Scenic Tour · Half Day · Afternoon
2:00pm–6:00pm · Windermere, Bowness, Ambleside · £79 per person
Duration
Half Day2:00pm – 6:00pm
Eight Lakes
8In one tour
Price
£79Per person
Pickup
2:00pm3 locations
Return
6:00pmWindermere
The 8 Lakes Afternoon Tour is a small-group guided tour of the Lake District — maximum seven guests — departing Windermere at 2:00pm and returning by 6:00pm. It covers eight lakes, four mountain passes, Castlerigg Stone Circle and Surprise View in the afternoon light, finishing at the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop, with your expert guide’s commentary throughout every mile. £79 per person, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before the tour.
Most visitors to the Lake District see one or two lakes. They drive along Windermere, perhaps stop at Grasmere, and consider themselves to have seen the Lakes. They have seen the edge of it. This tour goes to the heart of it — eight lakes, four mountain passes, Castlerigg Stone Circle, Surprise View, Ashness Bridge and the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop. All in a single half day.
The Lake District covers 912 square miles and contains sixteen named lakes. This tour covers eight of them — from the familiar grandeur of Windermere and Ullswater to the quiet drama of Brothers Water and the great mountain reservoir of Thirlmere. The route crosses the Kirkstone Pass — the highest driveable pass in the Lake District — and visits Castlerigg, one of the finest stone circles in Britain, with the Skiddaw massif as its backdrop.
It is the most comprehensive half-day scenic tour we offer. And because we give a continuous running commentary throughout every journey — the landscape is explained as you pass through it. The geology of the passes, the history of the stone circle, the story behind the Surprise View, the reason Thirlmere looks the way it does. Every mile of the journey is part of the tour.
01
Windermere
England's largest lake · 10.5 miles long
02
Rydal Water
Wordsworth's daily walk · mirror reflections
03
Grasmere
Wordsworth's island lake · Gingerbread Shop
04
Thirlmere
Victorian reservoir · two villages beneath
05
Derwentwater
Via Ashness Bridge · Queen of the Lakes
06
Bassenthwaite Lake
Via Surprise View · England's only true lake
07
Ullswater
The second largest lake · Wordsworth's daffodils
08
Brothers Water
Hidden valley lake · beneath Kirkstone Pass
A note on Bassenthwaite Lake
Bassenthwaite Lake is the only stretch of water in the Lake District that is technically, legally and geographically a lake. Every other named lake in the area is a water, a mere, a tarn or a reservoir. The Lake District technically has only one lake. Your expert storyteller will explain exactly why — and watch the reaction of everyone in the vehicle when they hear it for the first time.
Castlerigg Stone Circle
Castlerigg Stone Circle sits on a plateau above Keswick, surrounded on three sides by mountain ridges, with Skiddaw rising to the north. It was built around 3000 BC — making it older than Stonehenge — and its setting is extraordinary. Tim's background in geology and his interest in the prehistoric landscape of the Lakes means this stop is given the depth it deserves. Most visitors stop for a photograph. Our guests understand what they are looking at.
Pickup from Windermere station at 2:00pm. The afternoon route runs anticlockwise — the reverse of the morning tour. This means you approach every viewpoint from the opposite direction and in different light. Guests who have done the morning tour find it genuinely different.
Arriving in Windermere · Arriving in Bowness · Arriving in Ambleside
The route begins with the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop, then Surprise View — Derwentwater appearing suddenly below you, in the afternoon light that makes the vale look like a painting. Castlerigg Stone Circle next, then north over Thirlmere to Ullswater and Haweswater, before crossing back south over the Kirkstone Pass with the view behind you into Windermere.
The late afternoon sun on the Kirkstone descent and along Windermere on the return is the moment afternoon visitors remember most. Back in Windermere by approximately 6:00pm.
The 8 Lakes Tour runs morning and afternoon, which makes it ideal for combining with one of our literary half-day tours into a full day. Many guests do exactly this — a morning of spectacular scenery followed by an afternoon in the Beatrix Potter or Wordsworth landscape, or vice versa.
Pair the 8 Lakes Tour with
Gentle throughout — viewpoints, lakeshores and short strolls from the vehicle. No strenuous terrain. Comfortable shoes are fine.
The tour crosses Kirkstone Pass — a steep, narrow mountain road. We give a continuous running commentary throughout every journey. Guests with motion sickness may wish to take precautions.
The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop accepts cash and card. The gingerbread is sold by weight. It travels well and makes an excellent gift.
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before for a full refund. No forms, no fuss.
"We have been to the Lake District three times before and thought we knew it reasonably well. This tour showed us a completely different Lakes — Castlerigg, Surprise View, Ashness Bridge, Brothers Water. Places we had no idea existed. And the expert storyteller talked the whole way — explaining what we were seeing as we saw it. Not once did we have to wait for a car park to hear the story."
Bristol · 8 Lakes Morning Tour
"The gingerbread stop was delightful — but what I will remember most is Castlerigg. I had no idea it existed. Standing in a stone circle older than Stonehenge with mountains on every side while the expert storyteller explained the geology and the theories about its purpose — that is not something you forget. An extraordinary tour."
Edinburgh · 8 Lakes Morning Tour
"We did the afternoon 8 Lakes tour followed the next morning by the Beatrix Potter Hidden Country. Both were exceptional. The Kirkstone Pass in the afternoon — going up The Struggle with the valley opening out behind us — was one of the most dramatic road experiences I have ever had. The expert storyteller made every mile interesting."
London · 8 Lakes Afternoon + Beatrix Potter Morning