Places to explore near Ambleside

Slate-built town at the head of Windermere, its narrow streets full of outdoor shops, cafes and the tiny Bridge House straddling Stock Beck.

0.2 km N · Cumbria

A tiny 17th-century two-room cottage built out over Stock Beck in the middle of Ambleside, now a National Trust icon.

0.6 km N

A 70-foot two-stage fall in wooded ravine a short walk behind Ambleside, reached by an easy railed path.

0.8 km NE

A pretty fall in the grounds of Rydal Hall, framed by a 17th-century viewing house said to be England's oldest.

2.6 km NW

A hillside beside Rydal church that Wordsworth planted with daffodils in memory of his daughter Dora, gold every spring.

2.6 km NW

William Wordsworth's home for his last 37 years, with the garden he laid out.

2.6 km NW

Tiny hamlet between Grasmere and Ambleside, gathered around Rydal Mount, Dora's Field and the wooded path to Rydal Cave.

2.6 km NW · Cumbria

A quarry mouth above Rydal Water big enough to swallow a house, its floor pool crossed on stepping stones — the void left by Loughrigg's slate men.

2.8 km NW

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

3 km NW

Low fell with sublime Grasmere and Rydal views.

3.2 km W

Strung along a hillside lane above its valley, a village of listed 17th-century farmhouses, old wells and the National Trust's Townend.

3.4 km E · Cumbria

A short, powerful fall where the combined Brathay and Langdale Beck force through the rocks at Skelwith Bridge.

3.6 km W

A National Trust time-capsule yeoman's farmhouse in Troutbeck, kept by one family for four centuries with its carved oak and books intact.

3.6 km SE

A grassy shelf path above Grasmere with the classic postcard view down the lake to the village and the Vale of Grasmere.

3.7 km NW

Reedy tarn and slate village below Langdale.

3.8 km W

The smallest of the Langdale lakes, its reedy bays giving views to the Langdale Pikes above Elterwater village.

4.1 km W

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

4.5 km NW

William and Dorothy Wordsworth's cramped Grasmere home from 1799 to 1808, where he wrote his greatest poetry, now a writer's-house museum.

4.6 km NW

Remote 16th-century inn near the top of the Kirkstone Pass, one of the highest pubs in England, above Ambleside.

4.7 km NE

Langdale village around a green and the Britannia Inn, where a riverside path runs down to Elter Water and Skelwith Force.

4.9 km W · Cumbria

The highest road pass in the Lakes open to traffic, climbing from Ullswater past England's third-highest inn.

5 km NE

Wordsworth's beloved village beside its lake, home to Dove Cottage, St Oswald's churchyard and the gingerbread shop by the church gate.

5.3 km NW · Cumbria

Lake District country-house hotel dining rooted in foraged and kitchen-garden produce near Grasmere.

5.3 km NW

A wooded 40-foot fall in several stages on the Brathay in Little Langdale, one of the more easily reached falls.

5.4 km W

The quieter of the two Langdale valleys, a green trough of old farms and slate byways leading to Blea Tarn and the passes.

5.4 km W

A relaxed National Trust house above Grasmere, once a Wordsworth home and later Canon Rawnsley's, with lake views and open fires.

5.7 km NW

Wainwright's own invention: St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay through three national parks.

6.2 km NW · North Yorkshire & Cumbria

A National Trust gallery in Hawkshead's old solicitor's office showing Beatrix Potter's original book illustrations.

6.3 km S

The main chamber of the Little Langdale slate workings, forty feet high and lit by a window of daylight — reached through a tunnel that wants a torch.

6.4 km W

Whitewashed cottages, cobbled squares and stone archways in a car-free centre, with Wordsworth's old grammar school and a Beatrix Potter gallery.

6.4 km S · Cumbria

A flooded slate quarry whose arched caverns and 150-foot walls read as a skull in reflection — famous on camera, and strictly for looking into.

6.5 km SW

A string of cascades tumbling down Glen Mary from Tarn Hows towards Yew Tree Tarn, an easy family walk.

6.6 km SW

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

6.8 km SW

A lakeside museum of historic steamers and boats in a striking modern building on the Windermere shore.

6.9 km S

A steep, shapely Kentmere fell with a cluster of tall stone cairns on top, met by most walkers on the Kentmere Horseshoe

7 km NE

Little fell with a famous rock silhouette.

7.3 km NW

A Bowness attraction bringing Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle-Duck to life in walk-through recreations of the tales.

7.5 km S

Lakeside resort where the Windermere steamers dock, its bustling front backed by galleries, tearooms and the World of Beatrix Potter.

7.6 km S · Cumbria

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

7.9 km S

Head of the classic Fairfield Horseshoe.

7.9 km N

The dramatic glaciated valley beneath the Langdale Pikes, the classic base for Lakeland walking and climbing.

8.1 km W

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

8.4 km W

Farming hamlet between Hawkshead and the Windermere ferry, home to Beatrix Potter's Hill Top and the Tower Bank Arms she drew.

8.4 km S · Cumbria

Beatrix Potter's farmhouse and cottage garden.

8.5 km S

Luxury country-house hotel dining between Windermere and Kendal.

8.8 km S

Traditional Lake District village inn named by olive among the best country pubs.

8.9 km S

A hidden 60-foot fall dropping into a rocky chasm above the Old Dungeon Ghyll in Great Langdale.

9 km W

A ladder of cascades climbing the fellside from the Langdale road up to Stickle Tarn below Pavey Ark.

9 km W

A Coniston fell honeycombed with old copper and slate workings, its slopes scarred by centuries of mining

9.3 km W

The boot-worn Hikers Bar at the head of Langdale, an old cow byre serving Cumbrian ale beneath the Langdale Pikes.

9.3 km W

Broad far-eastern fell on a Roman road.

9.6 km NE

Coniston's village museum of Ruskin, copper mining, lace and Donald Campbell, home to the restored Bluebird K7.

9.8 km SW

Grey slate village under the Old Man, once a copper-mining hub, now the base for Ruskin's Brantwood and the Steam Yacht Gondola.

9.8 km SW · Cumbria

A restored Victorian steam yacht cruising Coniston Water from the pier, calling at Brantwood and Monk Coniston.

9.9 km SW

A working forest between Coniston and Hawkshead threaded with walking and cycling trails and nearly a hundred outdoor sculptures.

10.1 km SW

A narrow high pass linking the Duddon and Little Langdale valleys, meeting Hardknott at the Three Shire Stone.

10.3 km W

A wild upland valley above Coniston strewn with the ruins and spoil of centuries of copper mining beneath the Old Man.

10.4 km SW

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

11 km SW

Famous knife-edge arete to a lofty summit.

11.6 km N

Craggy former mining peak above Coniston Water.

12.1 km SW

Rippled ridge with the notorious Bad Step.

12.8 km W

Heritage passenger boats plying Ullswater between Glenridding, Howtown and Pooley Bridge, one of them over 150 years old.

12.9 km N

Shapely central fell crowning Langdale's head.

13.4 km W

Dammed and raised to supply Manchester, its forested shores run beneath the long ridge of Helvellyn.

13.5 km NW

A string of pools and small falls on the beck above Stonethwaite, a much-loved wild-swimming spot known as the Fairy Glen.

14 km NW

England's last golden eagle held on at this remote eastern Lakeland reservoir, which drowned the village of Mardale for Manchester.

14.3 km NE

Archetypal Lakeland valley of crags and oakwoods.

14.9 km NW

England's steepest road, hairpinning out of Eskdale at 1 in 3 past a Roman fort with huge fell views.

15.5 km W

A little rocky top handing you a big Windermere view for little effort.

15.6 km S

High beneath Great End near Sty Head, it is reputed to lie among the wettest spots in England.

15.7 km W

The last working Lake District bobbin mill, an 1835 English Heritage site near Finsthwaite where bobbins are still turned on the old machinery.

15.8 km S

Remote tarn-side hamlet reached by a single lane and a packhorse bridge, National Trust-owned in a hanging valley above Borrowdale.

15.8 km NW · Cumbria

Spectacular fort ruins commanding the Eskdale pass.

15.9 km W

A tall, plunging fall in upper Borrowdale on the walkers' route to Sty Head and the high central fells.

16.3 km NW

The highest point in England, at the head of Wasdale.

16.4 km W

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

16.5 km N

An open fellside deer park above Aira Force and Ullswater, where Wordsworth's 'host of golden daffodils' still flowers.

16.5 km N

The Lake District's most visited waterfall, plunging 65 feet beneath a Victorian stone bridge in the landscaped glen above Ullswater.

16.6 km N

Instantly recognised skyline above Great Langdale.

16.7 km SW

A white staircase of water tumbling off Base Brown above Seathwaite, England's wettest inhabited place.

16.8 km NW

England's second-highest mountain, the rockier twin of Scafell Pike, cut off from it by the notorious rock step of Broad Stand

17.1 km W

An enormous house-sized boulder balanced in Borrowdale, climbed by a wooden staircase to its top.

17.4 km NW

Pyramidal peak, emblem of the Lake District.

17.7 km W

A weathered five-arched stone bridge of 1651 over the River Leven at Windermere's southern outflow.

17.7 km S

The last working slate mine in England, high on Honister Pass, with underground tours and a via ferrata across the crags.

17.8 km NW

Perhaps the most photographed packhorse bridge in the Lakes, framing Derwentwater and Skiddaw from the Watendlath lane.

18.3 km NW

Borrowdale waterfall spilling through boulders behind the Lodore hotel, made famous by Robert Southey's tumbling poem.

18.4 km NW

A roadside crag above the Watendlath lane that opens suddenly over the length of Derwentwater to the northern fells.

18.5 km NW

A riverside museum at Backbarrow with 30,000 exhibits of classic cars, bikes and the Campbell Bluebird story.

18.9 km S

Cluster of farms at the head of Wast Water beneath Great Gable and Scafell, the birthplace of British rock climbing.

19.1 km W · Cumbria

A dramatic road pass of slate crags and hairpins linking Borrowdale with Buttermere, one of the steepest in the Lakes.

19.2 km NW

One of England's smallest churches, a tiny stone chapel among yews at the head of Wast Water, remembering climbers lost on the fells.

19.3 km W

Remote inn beneath Great Gable and Scafell, hung with climbing memorabilia as the birthplace of British mountaineering.

19.6 km W

Medieval tower house with limestone rock garden.

19.8 km SE

A grassy Newlands fell with a long spur running down to the valley, usually climbed with Dale Head and Robinson on a horseshoe round

20.3 km NW

A medieval pele tower with the National Trust's largest limestone rock garden and a national fern collection.

20.3 km SE

Wainwright's favourite fell above Buttermere.

20.4 km NW

Ullswater inn with lake views and rooms, an olive gastropub pick.

20.4 km N

Beloved little fell above Derwentwater.

20.6 km NW

Cluster of cottages reached by a double-arched bridge over the Derwent, at the narrow Jaws of Borrowdale.

20.6 km NW · Cumbria

Eskdale hamlet on the terminus branch of the Ravenglass railway, with a working corn mill and the path to Stanley Ghyll.

20.8 km W · Cumbria

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

21.1 km NW

Neolithic circle in a ring of fells.

21.3 km NW

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

21.4 km W

A pine-topped promontory on Derwentwater ranked by Ruskin among Europe's finest views, gazing into the Jaws of Borrowdale.

21.4 km NW

Limestone country of dry-stone walls, field barns, waterfalls and the Three Peaks.

21.9 km E

High western fell with historic Pillar Rock.

22 km W

Elizabethan hall with world-famous topiary garden.

22.3 km SE

Slate-built market town on Derwentwater, ringed by Skiddaw and Catbells, with a Saturday market, a lakeshore theatre and the old pencil works.

22.3 km NW · Cumbria

Small village between Buttermere and Crummock Water, hemmed by High Stile and Haystacks, with two inns and a lakeside round.

22.5 km NW · Cumbria

A narrow fell road climbing from the Newlands valley to Buttermere, past the roadside Moss Force waterfall.

22.8 km NW

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

22.9 km NW

Georgian market town on the Duddon fringe, its handsome square keeping fish slabs, stocks and a chestnut-shaded market cross.

23.2 km SW · Cumbria

Estate-to-plate dining at a fortified manor and kitchen garden near the Lake District.

23.8 km NE

Saddleback above Keswick, climbed by Sharp Edge.

24.2 km N

Little limestone hills, flowery woods and the huge tidal sands of Morecambe Bay, all packed into a small friendly corner

24.5 km SE

A stone shelter of 1846 on the limestone top above Grange, with a rooftop viewing platform sweeping from the Langdales to Morecambe Bay.

24.8 km S

A country park in Cumbria.

24.8 km NW

A National Trust place in Cumbria.

1.2 km SE

Thomas Mawson terraces of 1909, plus a 1660s grotto framing a waterfall.

1.9 km NW

Rydal's small church of 1824, built with Wordsworth's involvement, beside the daffodil slope of Dora's Field he planted for his daughter.

2.7 km NW

A National Trust place in Cumbria.

3 km S

Wordsworth likened this small tarn below Loughrigg Fell to Diana's mirror, with the Langdale Pikes framed beyond.

3.2 km W

A National Trust place in Cumbria.

3.2 km W