Areas
Routes
Natural spots
Historic places
Villages & landmarks
Near you
Blea Tarn© Tim Watts / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
63 lakes and lochs across England, the finest first, then every one county by county.
See them on the map
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.
Where Donald Campbell died chasing the water speed record, and the lake Arthur Ransome remade as Swallows and Amazons country.
Fed by the falls of Scale Force, this Buttermere-valley lake is ringed by Mellbreak and the high western fells.
Keswick's lake, ringed by fells and dotted with islands, with the jaws of Borrowdale opening to the south.
Wordsworth's lake and village, where the poet lies in the churchyard and Dove Cottage stands close by the shore.
Dambusters crews trained over the dams and drowned villages of this Derwent Valley reservoir in the Peak District.
Derbyshire
Between Grasmere and Ambleside, this small lake sits close to Rydal Mount, where Wordsworth spent his later years.
A much-loved beauty spot near Coniston, an artificial tarn among wooded knolls with the Coniston fells rising beyond.
The second largest lake in the Lake District, a curving water in Patterdale where Wordsworth saw the daffodils of his most famous poem.
England's deepest lake, backed by the Screes and the country's highest ground, once voted the nation's favourite view.
England's longest lake, a ribbon of water threaded with steamers and wooded islands between Ambleside and Newby Bridge.
The most secluded of the western Lakeland lakes, roadless along its shores below Pillar and the Ennerdale forests.
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
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
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.
Gateway to the Peak's northern moors, a lakeside and woodland walk below the gritstone edges west of Barnsley.
South Yorkshire
Wooded reservoir on the edge of Lymm village, a peaceful circular walk of water, dingle and gorge.
Cheshire
Large reservoir north of Northampton ringed by a nature reserve, cycle track and sailing water, with wide open views.
String of reservoirs below the West Pennine Moors, ringed by walking, cycling and riding trails.
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.
Four Victorian reservoirs built to feed the Grand Union Canal on the Chiltern edge near Tring, now a noted birdwatching reserve.
Hertfordshire
Twin lakes in Milton Keynes with a lakeside park, watersports and a Buddhist Peace Pagoda on the northern shore.
Buckinghamshire
The second-largest of the Norfolk Broads, a wide shallow lake on the River Ant with a boardwalk trail and a long sailing tradition.
Norfolk
Alone among the Cumbrian waters in being called a lake by name, a shallow sheet under Skiddaw where ospreys returned to breed.
The middle of three Derwent Valley reservoirs in the Peak District, its stone dam a Dambusters training ground below Bleaklow.
The smallest of the Langdale lakes, its reedy bays giving views to the Langdale Pikes above Elterwater village.
Largest of the Norfolk Broads, a shallow reedy expanse and nature reserve noted for swallowtail butterflies and marsh birds.
A remote stone-dammed reservoir at the head of Nidderdale, ringed by open moor and a starting point for walks onto Great Whernside.
North Yorkshire
High beneath Great End near Sty Head, it is reputed to lie among the wettest spots in England.
Dammed and raised to supply Manchester, its forested shores run beneath the long ridge of Helvellyn.
Near Colchester, this large Essex reservoir is of international importance for wintering ducks, geese and swans.
Essex
Quieter of the two Frensham ponds, ringed by reed and heath with a boardwalk trail through the surrounding common.
Surrey
England's last golden eagle held on at this remote eastern Lakeland reservoir, which drowned the village of Mardale for Manchester.
Northern Europe's largest artificial lake, set in Northumberland's vast forest under some of England's darkest night skies.
Unusually, this small north-western fell lake drains inland toward the other lakes rather than the sea.
In quiet Raydale, the Yorkshire Dales' largest natural lake carries a legend of a drowned city beneath its surface.
The south-east's largest area of inland water, a reservoir on the Kent-Sussex border with a long shoreline path.
East Sussex
Below Kirkstone Pass at the head of Patterdale, its name recalls two brothers said to have drowned there.
South of Bristol, this large Somerset reservoir draws wintering wildfowl and is popular with fly-fishers and birdwatchers.
Somerset
The Lake District's largest tarn, lying alone on the bleak moorland above Eskdale beneath Birker Fell.
Near Hawkshead and Beatrix Potter's Hill Top, this gentle lake is thick with reeds and birdlife.
Cupped beneath Dow Crag on the Old Man of Coniston, this dark tarn is a long-standing favourite of rock climbers.
Near Huntingdon, this large Cambridgeshire reservoir is encircled by a busy cycle and walking trail and popular for sailing and fly-fishing.
Cambridgeshire
Northumberland's largest natural lake, a reedy water below the crags of Hadrian's Wall near Housesteads.
Near Littleborough, this canal-feeder reservoir became a Victorian resort, the so-called Weighver's Seaport of the Pennine mill towns.
The uppermost of the three Derwent Valley reservoirs in the Peak District, its stone dam set deep among the moors below Bleaklow.
Alfred Wainwright asked for his ashes to be scattered at this small tarn on the top of Haystacks.
Wordsworth likened this small tarn below Loughrigg Fell to Diana's mirror, with the Langdale Pikes framed beyond.
High above Malham Cove in the Yorkshire Dales, this rare upland lake on limestone gave Charles Kingsley The Water-Babies.
Formed where the River Wey was dammed, this reedbed lagoon in the middle of Weymouth is now a town-centre RSPB reserve.
Dorset
Boardwalks cross fen and carr to this Norfolk Broad, with a floating visitor centre and a famous view from Ranworth church tower.
Between Striding Edge and Swirral Edge beneath Helvellyn, this is among the highest sizeable waters in England.
Dammed below the cliff of Pavey Ark above Great Langdale, reached by the path beside Stickle Ghyll.
Cornwall's largest natural freshwater lake, held back from the sea by the shingle bar of Loe Bar near Helston.
Cornwall
An eighteenth-century ornamental lake in Windsor Great Park, complete with cascade, transplanted Roman columns and a totem pole.
Beside the hamlet of Watendlath above Borrowdale, this tarn is the fictional home of Hugh Walpole's Judith Paris.
Set in the wooded combes of Exmoor, this reservoir is popular for sailing, fishing and lakeside walking.
.jpg){kind=link}