Lakes & lochs

Set between Great and Little Langdale, its reeds and pines frame a celebrated view of the Langdale Pikes.

Cumbria

A quiet Lakeland water ringed by high fells, its shoreline circuit among the loveliest short walks in Cumbria.

Cumbria

Where Donald Campbell died chasing the water speed record, and the lake Arthur Ransome remade as Swallows and Amazons country.

Cumbria

Fed by the falls of Scale Force, this Buttermere-valley lake is ringed by Mellbreak and the high western fells.

Cumbria

Keswick's lake, ringed by fells and dotted with islands, with the jaws of Borrowdale opening to the south.

Cumbria

Wordsworth's lake and village, where the poet lies in the churchyard and Dove Cottage stands close by the shore.

Cumbria

Dambusters crews trained over the dams and drowned villages of this Derwent Valley reservoir in the Peak District.

Derbyshire

Wales's first nature reserve, this cwm lake in the Glyderau is cradled beneath the cliffs of the Devil's Kitchen.

Gwynedd

A ruined island castle stands in this Rothiemurchus loch, ringed by ancient Cairngorm pinewood and a much-loved shore path.

Highland

Water source for Victorian Glasgow and setting for Scott's Lady of the Lake, cruised by the steamship Sir Walter Scott.

Stirling

Britain's largest freshwater expanse by area, island-strewn where the Highland line crosses it, sung in the ballad of the low road.

Argyll and Bute

Wooded islands and old Caledonian pines fill this Wester Ross loch, watched over by the quartzite cone of Slioch.

Highland

Deepest by volume of the Great Glen lochs and the most storied water in Britain, its peat-dark length running 23 miles past Urquhart Castle.

Highland

Between Grasmere and Ambleside, this small lake sits close to Rydal Mount, where Wordsworth spent his later years.

Cumbria

A much-loved beauty spot near Coniston, an artificial tarn among wooded knolls with the Coniston fells rising beyond.

Cumbria

The second largest lake in the Lake District, a curving water in Patterdale where Wordsworth saw the daffodils of his most famous poem.

Cumbria

England's deepest lake, backed by the Screes and the country's highest ground, once voted the nation's favourite view.

Cumbria

England's longest lake, a ribbon of water threaded with steamers and wooded islands between Ambleside and Newby Bridge.

Cumbria

The most secluded of the western Lakeland lakes, roadless along its shores below Pillar and the Ennerdale forests.

Cumbria

Ringed by the Cuillin of Skye, this wild freshwater loch is reached by boat from Elgol or a scramble past the Bad Step.

Highland

Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned and forced to abdicate on the island castle of this shallow Kinross loch, famed for its trout.

Perth and Kinross

In England's smallest county, this vast reservoir is a birdwatching and sailing centre where ospreys were reintroduced.

Rutland

Pair of tranquil forest ponds in the heart of the Forest of Dean, ringed by an easy walk.

Gloucestershire

Small ornamental loch amid pines above Glencoe village with easy walking trails and glen views.

Highland

Long reservoir in the hills above Llanidloes, held back by Britain's tallest concrete buttress dam of its era.

Powys

Glacial lake in a cirque on the north side of Pumlumon, the source of the River Rheidol.

Ceredigion

Twin lakes at Capel Curig giving one of the classic reflected views of the Snowdon Horseshoe.

Conwy

Reservoir on the southern edge of the Beacons with a circular cycle path and the Brecon Mountain Railway along its shore.

Merthyr Tydfil

Popular reservoir below the Roaches with a shore trail, visitor centre and grand views up to the gritstone edge.

Staffordshire

Picturesque reservoir edged by woods and moorland trails in the West Pennine Moors above Chorley.

Lancashire

Quiet canal-feeder reservoir near Byfield with a lakeside path, fishing and sailing in the far south-west of the county.

Northamptonshire

Man-made lakes on the Stackpole estate, covered in water lilies in June and part of a nature reserve.

Pembrokeshire

The lowest Elan Valley reservoir, its dam designed to spill in a sheet across the full width of the valley.

Powys

A small glacial lough tucked beneath Highshield Crags, one of the most striking spots on the central Wall walk.

Northumberland

Handsome reservoir ringed by gritstone edges and RSPB moorland where Saddleworth meets the Peak District.

Greater Manchester

A tranquil fishing and birdwatching reservoir below Stoke Dry, once used by the Dambusters for practice runs.

Rutland

Gateway to the Peak's northern moors, a lakeside and woodland walk below the gritstone edges west of Barnsley.

South Yorkshire

Large reservoir in the hills between Usk and Pontypool, with a visitor centre, lakeside trails and watersports.

Monmouthshire

A wooded reservoir lake in a side valley above Trefriw, a quiet walking and fishing spot.

Conwy

Small glacial tarn in a cwm below Corn Du, wrapped in fairy-lake folklore.

Powys

A lake in the Gwydir Forest above Trefriw, one of the few in Eryri allowing powered watersports.

Conwy

A pair of upland lakes owned by the National Trust above the Mawddach near Arthog, with views of Barmouth Bridge.

Gwynedd

Wooded reservoir on the edge of Lymm village, a peaceful circular walk of water, dingle and gorge.

Cheshire

Upland reservoir in the Cambrian Mountains below Pumlumon, in a little-visited valley with open access to the hills.

Ceredigion

Large reservoir north of Northampton ringed by a nature reserve, cycle track and sailing water, with wide open views.

Northamptonshire

String of reservoirs below the West Pennine Moors, ringed by walking, cycling and riding trails.

Lancashire

Two-mile reservoir in wooded hills near Leek, ringed by a shore path and served by a miniature steam railway, its name borrowed by Kipling's parents.

Staffordshire

Large reservoir in a wooded valley with a lakeside path and good birdwatching, stocked with brown trout.

Powys