One of my fave places to go camping has got to be Keswick in the Lake District. This popular lakeside market town brimming with outdoorsy shops, dog friendly pubs and heavenly tea rooms is an excellent base for exploring our most iconic National Park.
Last week we stayed at Keswick Camping & Caravanning Club Campsite. . Its more expensive than the campsites we normally choose but the closeness to town ( a few minutes stroll) and the stunning location on the banks of Derwent Water made up for that. Its an eight mile walk around the lake and there are also cruises from Keswick Launch. From the campsite we had gorgeous views of the lake and the mountains beyond.
We were really lucky to have pretty good weather when we camped….though a few thunderstorms during the night made it interesting! Happily our labrador Hugo didn’t seem to be fazed by the crashes and bangs. 🙂 Here are a few things we got up to in our time in the Lake District.
We walked to the village of Threlkeld and back along an old railway line. If you’re anything like me and hyperventilate at the mere thought of climbing a mountain, then this walk/cycle route maybe perfect for you . My seven year old nephew can pedal this three mile there and three mile back part of the coast to coast with ease. And instead of Derwent Water it was nice to discover the River Greta and its surrounding countryside instead. Check out Miles without stiles for more info.
We took Hugo to a Pencil Museum! Ok dogs would probably prefer to be splashing in a lake but it’s nice that this attraction lets you bring along a four legged friend on a drizzly Saturday morning. The Cumberland Pencil Museum archives and celebrates how the Borrowdale Valleys natural graphite supplies were turned into pencil lead. The museum is home to the world’s first pencil and the world’s longest colour pencil. Derwent pencils were used in the original ‘The Snowman’ animation and did you know the museum featured in the dark Brit comedy film ‘Sightseers’. Its a great place to take the kids and big kids to indulge in a bit of colouring. 🙂
We ate delicious local food. 🙂 There are plenty of places to eat in Keswick and most use produce sourced locally. We were spoilt for choice….
Tasty goulash is the signature dish in the cozy Dog and Gun on Lake Road.
Yummy carrot cake ( on such an adorable plate! ) sat outside the charming Little Chamonix Cafe.
Man vs Food style pancake stack at the The Filling Station Cafe diner on Crossthwaite Rd. Yummy indeed!
We bought a Dog Friendly Pub Walks book from a great pet shop in Keswick called Podgy Paws and decided to try a walk from the ‘Beehive Pub’ at Eamont , on the way to visiting my Mums near Penrith. There are 15 no stile walks in the book and lots of amusing and cute piccies of happy hounds. 🙂
We also went to Pooley Bridge near Ullswater and had lots of fun paddling and watching the doog jump off the pier. 🙂
And back to ‘Derwent Water’ which you can, as I mentioned before, walk all the way round. We only made it as far as Friars Crag which has beautiful views of the islands in the lake.
And I had to do a bit of shopping of course. The Orchid House on Lake rd in Keswick is one of those shops that is brimming full of lovely stuff. I wanted to buy everything…but I will show you what I did buy in a future post. 🙂
More from the Lakes again soon as I shall be swapping Camping for Glamping near Coniston at the end of the month. Excited!!
sunshine and celandines 
Lovely pictures – especially those pancakes 😉 Last week was a great week to pick weather-wise!
Those pancakes were amazing.I have cravings for them all the time now. 🙂 We were really fortunate with the weather.x
Some of my earliest memories were made at that pencil museum!
Its actually a lovely place to visit.:)
It looks great! I’ve never really been to the Lake District (one spur of the moment, evening trip to Lake Windermere is it!)
I’m quite lucky to have family there…so theres always am exscuse to visit.x
I’m quite lucky to have family there…so theres always an exscuse to visit.x
How did you find camping with Hugo? He looks as though he enjoyed it! I’d like to take Basil sometime but a bit wary
Nat x
Really good! We took him on a shorter trip nearer home about a month previously and happily it turns out he loves camping. We bought a dog spike to shove in the ground and tie him to. He liked to sit in front of the tent and people watch. He settled really well in the tent. And as long as there were places to walk him ….and water he was happy. 🙂 Try taking Basil on a trip not far from home. Saw loads of dogs, big and small , enjoying their hols. x