Carlisle Castle is a magnificent Norman fortress in Cumbria that has stood guard over the Anglo-Scottish border since 1092 offering visitors a compelling journey through nearly a thousand years of turbulent military history and royal intrigue.
United Kingdom: Cumbria – Keswick
✏️ Pencils, Poets and a Very Old Stone Circle: Our Trip to Keswick
We had been talking about Keswick for years. Karen, being from the North, had that quiet confidence about the Lake District that people from up there tend to have — a sort of “you’ll see” expression whenever I suggested somewhere warmer and further south. She was right, of course. She usually is.
So we finally did it — or rather, Keswick did us, as a stop on our Coast to Coast cycle ride. The C2C, as it is known to those who enjoy that sort of thing, runs 137 miles from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, and Keswick sits on it like a very welcome reward after the climb over Whinlatter Pass. It is a market town in Cumbria, tucked below the considerable bulk of Skiddaw and sitting at the northern end of Derwentwater. And it was, to use a thoroughly unoriginal phrase, absolutely lovely.
🏛️ A Town That Has Been Around the Block
The first thing you notice about Keswick is that it is not messing about when it comes to history. People have been living in and around this spot for a very long time indeed. The Castlerigg Stone Circle, which sits just outside the town on a plateau with views in every direction, dates back to around 3000 BC — the Neolithic period, give or take. That is roughly five thousand years ago, which puts one’s own problems into a satisfying perspective. The circle consists of 38 stones and is thought to be one of the earliest stone circles in Britain. Nobody knows exactly what it was for — a trading post, a religious site, an astronomical calendar — but whatever it was, whoever built it chose an extraordinary spot for it.
Much later, in AD 556, a chap called St Kentigern is recorded as having preached at nearby Crosthwaite, just to the east of the town centre. Then the Norse arrived in the 10th century, and if you look at the place names around the area you can still see the evidence: words like “thwaite” (a clearing) and “keld” (a spring) are pure Old Norse.
By the 13th century Keswick had become a proper market town. In 1276, King Edward I granted a royal charter for a weekly market, and that same market has been running, in more or less the same spot, ever since. Over 700 years of buying and selling. We had a wander round it ourselves and bought some local cheese, which felt appropriately traditional.
In the centre of Market Square stands the Moot Hall, a rather fine building that dates in its current form to 1813, though earlier structures on the site go back to at least 1571. The name is Anglo-Saxon: a “moot” was a meeting or assembly. Over the centuries it has served as a courtroom, a copper store, a market hall and, until very recently, the tourist information centre. It has a slightly unusual one-handed clock, which Karen found charming and I found deeply suspicious.
✏️ The Town That Invented the Pencil (More or Less)
Here is something you probably did not expect to learn on a trip to the Lake District: Keswick is, in a very real sense, the birthplace of the modern pencil.
Around 1550 — some accounts say closer to 1565 — a large deposit of graphite was discovered in the Borrowdale valley, just south of Keswick. It was extraordinarily pure, solid graphite, and nothing like it had been found anywhere else in the world. Local people initially used it to mark their sheep. Then someone, in a moment of quiet genius, thought to encase it in wood and use it for writing and drawing. The graphite was so valuable that at one point in the 18th century it was, weight for weight, worth more than gold.
The Cumberland Pencil Company was formally established in Keswick in 1832, and the factory operated on the site until 2008 before production moved to Workington. The 1916 factory building is still a landmark in the town. These days the site houses the Derwent Pencil Museum, and we spent a very happy couple of hours in there.
You enter through a replica of the Seathwaite graphite mine, which gives you a fair idea of what the original miners were dealing with — dark, cramped and rather atmospheric. Inside there is a proper collection of exhibits tracing pencil-making from cottage industry to the Derwent fine art pencils that artists use today. The highlight for us was the display of Second World War pencils: hollow inside, with tiny rolled-up maps of Europe and miniature compasses hidden within. They were made at the Keswick factory and issued to RAF aircrew and agents operating behind enemy lines, to be used if they were shot down. We stood looking at them for quite a while.
There is also a Guinness World Record-holding pencil — nearly eight metres long — which is exactly as ridiculous and wonderful as it sounds.
🏔️ Poets, Painters and Rather a Lot of Tourists
Keswick has been pulling in visitors for centuries, though it really got going in the late 18th century when improved roads and a taste for dramatic landscapes — what the Georgians called the Sublime — made the Lake District fashionable. A travel guide from 1783 noted that Keswick “receives great benefit from the resort of gentry to see the romantic lakes and mountains that surround it.” Some things do not change.
The Romantic poets were particularly keen on the place. Samuel Taylor Coleridge lived at Greta Hall in Keswick from 1800 to 1803. Robert Southey, who became Poet Laureate in 1813, moved into the same house in 1803 and stayed for the rest of his life — forty years, give or take. William Wordsworth, who lived over at Grasmere, was a regular visitor. Percy Bysshe Shelley also spent time in Keswick in 1811 and 1812, though by all accounts he was not the easiest houseguest. The painters came too — Turner and Constable both worked in the area, drawn by Derwentwater and the surrounding fells.
The railway arrived in 1865, with the opening of Keswick Station on the line between Cockermouth and Penrith. That opened the floodgates somewhat, making the Lake District far more accessible to Victorian tourists than it had ever been before. The station closed in 1972 — the last train left on 4 March of that year — but the trackbed of the old Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway has since been turned into a cycling and walking trail. It is now part of the C2C route, which is precisely how we came to be on it.
The Lake District was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status in July 2017, joining the likes of Hadrian’s Wall, the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids. That is not bad going for somewhere that essentially sells itself on scenery and slate.
Leaving Keswick on the old railway line, heading east towards Threlkeld, is one of those stretches of cycling that makes you forget your legs hurt. The trail follows the River Greta through Greta Gorge, which is thickly wooded and rather beautiful, and crosses the river no fewer than eight times in just four miles — all bow-string girder bridges, some original Victorian ironwork, two of them rebuilt and reopened as recently as December 2020 after flood damage. The engineer who designed the original bridges was Thomas Bouch, which is a name worth knowing: he was also responsible for the Tay Bridge, which famously collapsed in a storm in 1879 taking a passenger train with it. His Greta bridges, happily, are still standing.
Planning Your Visit to Keswick
📍 Location
Keswick is a medieval market town sitting at the heart of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, in the north-west of England. Cradled between the imposing slopes of Skiddaw to the north and the shores of Derwentwater to the south, it is one of the principal gateways into the national park. The town is surrounded by some of England’s most dramatic scenery — sweeping fells, ancient woodland, and glittering lakes — making it a natural base for walkers, cyclists, and anyone who simply wants to breathe in the landscape.
🚗 Getting There
By Car
The most straightforward route by road is via the M6 motorway, leaving at Junction 40 and following the A66 westward for approximately 16 miles into Keswick. Those approaching from the south can also drive through the national park itself — the route from Kendal via Windermere and Grasmere offers a spectacular introduction to the Lakes, with mountain passes and open fells unfolding on either side.
By Train
Keswick no longer has its own railway station, but reaching it by rail is entirely manageable. The nearest mainline station is Penrith (North Lakes), which sits on the West Coast Main Line and is well served by trains from London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow. From Penrith, the Stagecoach X4/X5 bus departs from directly outside the station approximately every 30 minutes and reaches Keswick Bus Station in around 40 minutes. Avanti West Coast has made the journey even simpler by adding Keswick as a bookable destination on its journey planner — you can purchase a single integrated ticket covering both the train and the onward bus connection.
Those travelling from Yorkshire or the north-east may also find the historic Settle–Carlisle Railway a scenic and practical option, connecting through to Carlisle or onward to Penrith.
By Bus
Long-distance coaches serve Penrith, from where the X4/X5 bus provides the onward connection to Keswick. Alternatively, the Stagecoach 555 route links Windermere to Keswick via Grasmere and Ambleside — a journey of around an hour and a half that passes through some of the most celebrated scenery in the national park.
By Air
The nearest major airports are Manchester, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, all of which have good rail connections into the West Coast Main Line corridor and onward to Penrith.
🗺️ Getting Around
On Foot
Keswick’s compact town centre is entirely walkable, and many of its most rewarding experiences begin on foot. The lakeside path to Friars Crag is just a short stroll from the centre, while the full circular walk around Derwentwater — roughly 10 miles of mostly flat paths through woodland and along the shore — is one of the classic Lake District routes. The town sits at the confluence of numerous fell paths, meaning some of the region’s finest hikes, including the ascent of Skiddaw and the gentler climb to Latrigg, begin virtually from the doorstep.
By Local Bus
Keswick’s local bus network is surprisingly comprehensive for a rural town. Stagecoach operates several key routes, including the 77/77A through Buttermere to Cockermouth and the open-top 78 down through Borrowdale towards Seatoller — a particularly fine ride in fine weather. A Stagecoach day pass allows unlimited hop-on, hop-off travel across the network, making it possible to combine bus journeys with walks and avoid the need for a car entirely.
By Boat
Keswick Launch operates regular lake cruises on Derwentwater, departing from the jetty near Theatre by the Lake. You can take the full 50-minute cruise around the lake, or use it as a hop-on, hop-off service, disembarking at various jetties — including Hawes End for Cat Bells, High Brandelhow, and Lodore — and walking back or picking up a bus. Combined bus-and-boat day tickets are available and offer excellent value for exploring the western shores of the lake.
By Bicycle
Cycling is a popular way to explore the area. The Keswick to Threlkeld Railway Path — a converted former railway line — is a flat, family-friendly route of around 5 kilometres following the River Greta with fine views of the surrounding fells. For more ambitious riders, Keswick sits on the Coast to Coast cycle route (National Route 71), which crosses from the Cumbrian coast to the North Sea. Mountain bikes can be hired locally, and Whinlatter Forest, five miles north of town, has dedicated trails for all abilities. Electric bikes are also available to hire in the town.
By Taxi
Local taxi firms operate in and around Keswick and can be booked in advance for connections from Penrith station or for reaching more remote valleys and passes.
The Best Time to Visit Northwest England
Northwest England — encompassing the Lake District, Manchester, Liverpool, the Pennines, and the Cheshire Plains — is a region of dramatic contrasts: fells and coastlines, industrial heritage and rural tranquillity. Its climate is Atlantic-influenced, meaning it receives more rainfall than most of England, particularly in the western uplands. Each season brings its own character, and there is genuinely no bad time to visit — only different reasons to go.
🌸 Spring (March–May)
Spring is one of the most rewarding times to visit Northwest England. Temperatures climb steadily from around 7°C in March to 15°C by May, and the days lengthen noticeably. The Lake District bursts into colour: daffodils carpet Wordsworth’s Grasmere from late February into April, lambs appear on the fells, and the deciduous woodland that fringes Windermere and Ullswater turns a vivid, fresh green. Rainfall is still present — this is the north-west — but showers tend to be shorter and brighter than in winter, often giving way to crisp, clear afternoons ideal for walking.
Manchester and Liverpool come alive in spring, with outdoor markets, canal-side dining, and festival season beginning to pick up pace. Crowds in the national park are noticeably thinner than in summer, meaning you can secure accommodation more easily and enjoy popular spots such as Tarn Hows or Rydal Water in relative peace. Easter weekend is the exception: it draws visitors in large numbers, so booking ahead is advisable.
What to pack: Layered clothing including a fleece and a waterproof jacket, walking boots with ankle support, lightweight trousers, a warm mid-layer for higher ground, sunscreen (UV can be deceptive even in cool temperatures), and a small day rucksack. A compact umbrella is useful for city days in Manchester or Liverpool.
☀️ Summer (June–August)
Summer is peak season across Northwest England, and for good reason. Average temperatures sit between 17°C and 21°C, occasionally nudging higher during warm spells, and the long northern evenings — still light past 9 pm in June and July — give walkers and cyclists exceptional value from their daylight hours. The Cumbrian fells are accessible at their most reliable, and boat trips on Windermere and Coniston Water run at full frequency. The coast at Morecambe Bay is at its most attractive, with wading birds feeding across vast, shimmering mudflats at low tide.
Culturally, summer is when Northwest England is at its most animated. The Lake District’s summer festivals, Manchester’s eclectic music and arts calendar, and Liverpool’s famous Albert Dock programme all peak in July and August. That said, the region’s popularity brings its costs: the A591 through the central Lakes becomes congested, car parks at Langdale and Wastwater fill by mid-morning, and accommodation prices are at their highest. The more remote western Lakes — Ennerdale, Loweswater, the Caldbeck fells — offer an escape from the crowds and reward independent exploration.
Rainfall does not disappear in summer; a week of glorious sunshine can be interrupted by a day of heavy Lakeland downpours. Always carry waterproofs, even in August.
What to pack: Light, breathable clothing (T-shirts, shorts, light trousers), a waterproof jacket and over-trousers (non-negotiable), sturdy walking boots, sunscreen and sunglasses, insect repellent for forested and boggy areas, a water bottle, and a map or downloaded OS route if heading onto the fells. Evening layers for cooler nights — even in July, evenings can be chilly at altitude.
🍂 Autumn (September–November)
Autumn is, for many seasoned visitors, the finest season to explore Northwest England. September and October bring warm, mellow light, lower visitor numbers than summer, and the extraordinary spectacle of the region’s deciduous woodland turning amber, russet, and gold. The lakes reflect the surrounding fells in mirror-like conditions on still mornings, and the air carries a clarity that makes long-distance views across to the Scottish Borders or towards the Isle of Man (from Morecambe Bay) crisp and rewarding.
September is particularly clement, with temperatures still reaching 15–17°C and a good proportion of settled days. October sees conditions become more variable, with the first serious storms of the season possible from mid-month, though these are often followed by brilliant spells of sunshine. November tightens into early winter: rain becomes more persistent, the fells above 700 metres can see snow, and darkness falls significantly earlier.
For wildlife, autumn is exceptional. Red deer rut in the forests around Grizedale and across the Pennines, ospreys pass through on their southward migration, and fungi season makes woodland walks in the Lake District and the Forest of Bowland particularly rewarding. Manchester and Liverpool’s cultural season restarts after the summer: theatres, galleries, and music venues fill their autumn programmes, making the cities an excellent complement to outdoor exploration.
What to pack: Warm layers including a wool or fleece mid-layer, a windproof and waterproof outer shell, waterproof walking boots, hat and gloves (particularly for October and November), waterproof over-trousers, thermal base layers as the season progresses, and a head torch for shorter days. Gaiters are worth carrying for boggy conditions from October onwards.
❄️ Winter (December–February)
Winter in Northwest England is not for the faint-hearted, but it offers a singular beauty that rewards those willing to embrace it. The fells above 500 metres regularly receive snow from November through to March, and when clear weather follows a snowfall, the Lake District presents some of the most dramatic winter scenery in England. Helvellyn, Blencathra, and the Coniston fells look extraordinary under snow, and experienced, well-equipped walkers will find route conditions genuinely alpine in character. The low-level walks — around Grasmere, along Borrowdale, or beside Esthwaite Water — remain accessible and are strikingly atmospheric in frost or mist.
The cities make an excellent winter base. Manchester’s Christmas Markets, running through November and December, are among the most popular in the UK and draw visitors from across Europe. Liverpool’s waterfront takes on a moody, cinematic quality in winter light, and both cities’ restaurant, bar, and cultural scenes are at full strength. Hotel rates are lower outside of the festive period, and many of the Lake District’s independent accommodation providers offer reduced mid-week rates in January and February.
Daylight hours are the principal constraint: sunrise comes as late as 8.20 am and sunset as early as 3.50 pm in late December, leaving a narrow window for outdoor activity. Planning walks around the available light is essential. Road conditions across the higher Lakeland passes — Kirkstone, Wrynose, Hardknott — can become hazardous or impassable after snowfall, so check road updates via Cumbria County Council before setting out.
What to pack: Thermal base layers (top and bottom), a heavyweight fleece or down mid-layer, a fully waterproof and windproof outer jacket, waterproof trousers, insulated waterproof boots, hat, gloves and a buff or scarf, gaiters, microspikes or crampons if venturing onto snowy fells, a head torch with spare batteries, a thermos flask, and high-energy snacks. A paper OS map is advisable as phone batteries drain faster in cold temperatures.
Overall Best Time to Visit
For most visitors, late spring (late April to May) and early autumn (September to mid-October) represent the optimum time to visit Northwest England. Both periods offer the most favourable balance of reasonable weather, manageable crowds, comfortable temperatures, and striking natural scenery — without the accommodation pressures and traffic congestion of peak summer. Those whose principal interest is the cities of Manchester or Liverpool will find the region worth visiting at any time of year, since its cultural and culinary offer is year-round and largely weather-independent. Walkers and fell enthusiasts should aim for May or September as their first choice, with summer as a viable alternative provided they book well in advance and set out early to beat the daily rush to popular trailheads.
Where to Stay
1. Chaucers Nook
The former Chaucer House Hotel has been beautifully converted into 14 luxury apartments, and Chaucer’s Nook is one of the finest among them. Sitting on the lower ground floor of this handsome building, it is luxuriously furnished with an eye for detail — think kingsize bed, a fully equipped kitchen with dishwasher and washer-dryer, and a bathroom with both a bath and a separate shower cubicle. It occupies a quiet corner of Keswick, yet Market Square is just five minutes on foot and the lake shore a ten-minute stroll away. From here it’s also only six minutes’ walk to Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, and the iconic Derwent Pencil Museum is equally close. With fell-top views, private parking, and all utilities included, Chaucer’s Nook offers a genuinely self-contained base from which to explore the Northern Lakes at your own pace.
2. Babbling Brook Guesthouse
The Babbling Brook was established in 2008 and is a family-owned and run guest house set within a renovated Victorian home overlooking the River Greta. Positioned on the corner of Penrith Road and Wordsworth Street, it sits within a few minutes’ walking distance of Keswick town centre, with the grounds of Fitz Park directly opposite and the river running close by. Every room enjoys mountain views, and guests are treated to a buffet or traditional breakfast made with locally sourced ingredients, with vegetarian and gluten-free options available. Reviewers are consistent in their praise: the owner is described as friendly, helpful, and very knowledgeable about local activities, and the breakfasts earn particular affection. The property features six rooms, each with a flat-screen TV and tea and coffee making facilities, making it a warm and unpretentious retreat after a long day on the fells.
3. Denton House Hostel
Denton House sleeps 66 and offers traditional hostel-style accommodation to individuals, couples, families, and groups of all sizes — with the flexibility to book by the bed, the room, or the whole place. Recently refurbished, it comes with plenty of hot water for showers, central heating throughout, a self-catering kitchen, a large dining room, and solid bunk beds, with all linen provided. Derwentwater, with its wooden launches and iconic views of Catbells, is just a five-minute stroll away, while the shops, restaurants, and attractions of Keswick are a ten-minute walk. The hostel is ideally placed for serious adventurers: it sits on the Coast to Coast cycle route, the Cumbria Way, and the Bob Graham Round, and is surrounded by Wainwrights waiting to be bagged. Catering can be arranged on request, with breakfast, packed lunches, and dinner available to groups of ten or more, and there is a generous 40-space car park on site.
More to Explore
