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It’s undoubtedly Britain’s equivalent to our Queenstown Lakes district. Windermere and the Lake District is England’s favourite national park, a sprawling tourist honeypot that stretches across hundreds of square kilometres of rugged Cumbrian countryside, woodland valleys, shimmering tarns and lakes – all backed by strikingly craggy mountains. It was the 18th century Romantic poets who captured the world’s imagination, igniting the region’s first tourism wave. Since then, the stature of the Lake District has only grown as a getaway destination, the wave has never crested, culminating in the district securing World Heritage status just eight years ago. 

I’ve just enjoyed an illuminating romp through the Lake District as part of Trafalgar’s Real Britain Tour. This beautifully guided tour serves up a stirring highlights-reel, blending the best of England, Scotland and Wales into a seamless experience. Windermere was a runaway highlight.  

Lake Windmere shoreline. Photo / Mike Yardley

With so much glorious countryside to savour, where the hedge rows give way to dry stone walls, what are the essential experiences in the Lake District? A great base is Bowness-on Windermere, a perky tourist town that flanks the district’s biggest body of water. Ever since the railway arrived in Windermere in 1847, it became the Lake District gateway – a development famously opposed by William Wordsworth, who wrote, in a poem, ‘Is then no nook of English ground secure from rash assault?’.  

England’s largest lake is a shimmery, glossy expanse that stretches for 17km, from Ambleside in the north to Bowness in the south. If you’d rather steer yourself on the lake, there are numerous kayak and row-boat hire options. Feeling lazy, I enjoyed a gorgeous guided cruise taking in its full length. Rich with stories, this floating scenic medley also vividly illustrated the immensity of the lake and the towering size of the mountains, while my face was gently exfoliated by a frisky spring breeze.  

Grand manors grace the lakefront, as do a plethora of swanky five-star boutique hotels. They all huddle around the lake edge like safari animals around a watering hole. There are quirky sights too, like Belle Isle, the lake’s largest island, which features Belle Isle House. Nestled amid a grove of trees, it was built in 1774 and was the first Neoclassical Calendar house in England. Resembling a cylindrical pantheon topped by a dome, this enormous stone house symbolically contains architectural elements in quantities that represent the respective numbers of days in a year. As you do.  

Belle Isle and the Calendar House. Photo / Supplied

I also gazed over the turrets and fortifications of Wray Castle, which is currently closed for restoration. Wray ignited Beatrix Potter's love of the area, when the family stayed in the castle on their holidays in 1882. Remarkably, this was another passion project. Despite resembling a mighty relic of medieval England, Wray Castle was only built in 1840, as a neo-gothic castle by a retired Liverpool surgeon. It’s been in National Trust ownership for the past century. 

I was visiting Windermere in May, which was busy enough. Avoid the region in the summer peak, when the tourist hordes swarm like midges. One of starring attractions is the World of Beatrix Potter, which lustily brings to life various scenes from Potter's books, including Peter Rabbit's garden, Mr McGregor's greenhouse, Mrs Tiggy-winkle's kitchen and Jemima Puddle-Duck's glade (complete with a themed tearoom). Plus, a Peter Rabbit live puppet theatre show. It's squarely aimed at kids, but kids of all ages (myself included) will find it enchanting. 

On the western side of Windermere is the village of Hawkshead, a pretty and atmospheric place, with intimate connections to Beatrix Potter. You can visit Potter’s old home, a 17th-century cottage called Hill Top. This idyllic farmhouse was purchased in 1905 by Potter and was used as inspiration for many of her tales. You might recognise the kitchen garden from Peter Rabbit. Wreathed in climbing ivy and crammed with memorabilia, the house looks like something out of a storybook, but Beatrix only actually lived here until her marriage to William Heelis.  

Hill Top, home of Beatrix Potter. Photo / National Trust

The newlywed couple moved to a larger farm at nearby Castle Cottage, where the author wrote many more tales until her death in 1943. Fascinated with sheep, my Trafalgar travel director Selene remarked that she introduced the Herdwicks breed to the Lake District. She went on to own 14 farms in the area. She bequeathed Hill Top (along with Castle Cottage and more than 1600 hectares of farmland) to the National Trust with the proviso that Hill Top should be left with her belongings and decor in situ. Castle Cottage can be rented out for private stays. The royalties from Potter's books continue to benefit the National Trust.  

Wordsworth was schooled in Hawkshead and lived for a time in Grasmere, just north of Lake Windermere. Visiting Grasmere was a huge highlight of my Trafalgar tour through the area. You can visit his old home, the creeper-clad Dove Cottage, where he penned some of the greatest poetry ever written – much of it concerned with the nature he found around him. I also went see his grave in St Oswald’s Churchyard, alongside his family members. Fittingly, there were fresh daffodils placed on his grave. Grasmere is wrapped in bucolic good-looks, and the locals created a Wordsworth Daffodil Garden, which is a soothing, tranquil space, edged by a babbling brook. 

While I was in chocolate-box-pretty Grasmere, I staked out their famous gingerbread. Grasmere Gingerbread, a British icon in the sweet treat stakes, is a unique spicy-sweet cross between a biscuit and a cake. Crispy, crumbly, chewy and utterly moreish, one piece is never enough. It was invented by Victorian baker Sarah Nelson in 1854, and the Grasmere Gingerbread shop is located in the old village schoolhouse, built in the 1600s. As I munched down on this taste sensation, I was intrigued to learn that Wordsworth and his wife formerly taught in this school and firmly believed that universal education was the escape-chute from poverty for Victorian children. Selene also recommended I try another local specialty, a Cumbrian sausage roll with chilli jam. You’ll find them in the village green at Lucia’s Bakery. Delish!  

Grasmere Gingerbread. Photo / Made in Cumbria

Sticking with the Wordsworth trail, he actually spent a great deal more time at Rydal Mount, just out of Ambleside, at the top end of the lake. This was his family home until he died in 1850, and the house contains a treasure trove of Wordsworth memorabilia. The gardens are lovely too; Wordsworth fancied himself as a landscape gardener and much of the grounds were laid out according to his designs. Hardcore Wordsworth fans should also add Penrith to their bingo-card. It’s home to Gowbarrow Park, whose drifts of daffodils inspired a certain poem.  

Many Lake District aficionados point their compass towards the area’s most northerly hub, Keswick, a slate-roofed market town that has retained much of its local character. Enrobed by some of the region’s most legendary fells, including Catbells and Skiddaw, and within easy striking distance of Scafell Pike, this is the adventure capital of the Lake District. For the glory of saying you’ve climbed the highest peak in the country, Scafell Pike beckons. The summit tops out at 978m, but this is doable for anyone with reasonable fitness but should be approached with some common sense (Thinking Tongariro Crossing). For more leisurely pursuits on foot, a 10-minute stroll from Keswick town centre brings you to Derwentwater, one of the loveliest lakes here with its islands and coves.  

Just outside town is the mountain forest of Whinlatter, a tangle of pine, larch and spruce that feels more Scottish than Cumbrian. Other draws include the stone circle at Castlerigg, thought to pre-date Stonehenge, Lingholm Kitchen & Walled Garden, which was the inspiration behind Mr McGregor’s garden in the Beatrix Potter books, the surprisingly enthralling but quirky Pencil Museum. Keswick was the home of the first pencil factory. The museum includes a replica graphite mine which would have served as the source of the pencil industry over three centuries ago, given the rich graphite deposits in the Lake District.  

It was the French who would later mix finely ground graphite with clay powders, to change the hardness of the pencil and give birth to the likes of the HB. Also in the museum, you’ll see secret WW2 pencils with hidden maps; the Guinness World Record for the largest colour pencil measuring almost 8 metres and the late Queen's Diamond Jubilee pencil. Add that to the tick-list! 

Trafalgar’s 6-day Real Britain tour is a riveting romp covering iconic destinations like London, Bath, Cardiff, Liverpool, the Lake District, Edinburgh and York. In addition to guided sightseeing, there’s ample free time for personal discovery. Optional add-ons include local theatre shows, walking tours and even seasonal events like the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. 2026 pricing for the tour is from $3,056pp. For full details head to  

Mike Yardley is ¾ÅÒ»ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞtalk ZB’s resident traveller and can be heard every week at 11.20am on Saturday Mornings with Jack Tame.