Half-term in the Lake District with our kids

For as long as I’ve lived in the UK (almost 18 years now!), the Lake District has been the recommended destination. We’ve talked about going for years, and we finally made it happen at the end of October, during half term. Safe to say we had high expectations!

Here’s what we got up to as a family of four - in a simple day-to-day list format because I know it’s easier to digest that way. List of links and addresses of the sights at the end of the blog post with Google Maps links, for your convenience.

Transport: we drove all the way from South West London

Stayed in: Bowness-on-Windermere, in a comfortable 2-bed house (not recommending it here as we had mixed feelings!)

Saturday / the road trip

• Left London at dawn (7am)

• Stopped for breakfast and refuel after Birmingham (around 10am)

• Lunch at Levens Kitchen (we were nearly there by then) around 1:30pm

• Arrived in Bowness-on-Windermere around 3/3:30pm

Sunday / chill day

The forecast said pouring rain all day and, to be honest, we were exhausted from the drive - so we planned a quiet day indoors. I still managed to sneak out early and wander down to Lake Windermere for a few peaceful photos before the skies opened.

The rest of the day was blissfully slow:

• organising our week

• painting (I printed watercolour sheets from Ellie and Liv Designs - my 10-year-old and I really enjoyed this mindful activity)

• drawing (still doing the Inktober challenge!)

• calling family

• reading and playing games.

A very relaxing day.

Monday / Loughrigg Fell hike

We drove to Ambleside, parked, and set out for a hike to Loughrigg Fell.

Stats: 11km | 285m elevation“Mainly easy”… except for me. I’m not sporty, I’ve got bad knees, and I take a lot of photos - so “slow and steady” was the vibe. Walking sticks helped!

The route is lovely:

• a footpath between a stream and sheep fields

• a small road

• then the climb, with more moor-like, bare landscape the higher you go

You can detour to Rydal Cave (we skipped it).Great views across Grasmere partway up.

Once at the top: spectacular.The descent was mostly easy - wider paths - until the very last section: a brutally steep road back into Ambleside!

Tuesday / local walk + Windermere

We picked a shorter walk around Bowness-on-Windermere (6.5km | 140m elevation). It rained, with a few sunny spells. We crossed several cattle fields which… I didn’t love, despite having grown up around cows. (My youngest mooing didn’t help either. They are BIG animals!) Nothing happened, of course - cows are calm - but some bits were very muddy.

Fewer dramatic views, but still a gorgeous walk.

Lunch in Windermere at The Tilly Bar and Kitchen - lovely staff, decent food - and we randomly bumped into one of our daughter’s friends!

We lingered around Windermere, bought postcards and stamps, visited the brilliant National Park Print Shop, where I inevitably bought a beautiful alphabet print.

We took the bus back to Bowness - too tired to walk

Wednesday / mini cruise + Motor Museum

We booked an early mini cruise on Lake Windermere. The weather was sunny, the ride was lovely, and our guide shared lots of interesting facts… which I have now completely forgotten, except that lakeside houses cost a fortune!

Then we drove to the Lakeland Motor Museum for our 13-year-old. We had lunch at their cafe (Cafe Ambio).Not our first motor museum in the UK, but a great one:

• shiny vintage cars

• beautifully restored motorbikes

• retro branding

• and the fun surprise of learning about Reckitt’s Blue, a product used used as a laundry whitener to prevent fabrics from appearing yellow.

I enjoyed it far more than expected!

Thursday / Waterfall, Stone Circle, Pencil Museum

A big day.

Aira Force Waterfall (National Trust)

Recommended by my neighbour. Beautiful woodland, full of autumn colours made even richer by the rain. Stunning waterfall. We did the short loop.

Castlerigg Stone Circle (Keswick)

A quick 15-minute stop - hangry child + very windy hilltop = short visit. Still worth it! Easy roadside parking.

Derwent Pencil Museum (Keswick)

One I had been really looking forward to - recommended by my line dancing friend.

Lunch at their café: nothing fancy on the menu, but the pencils and paper available on the tables were excellent quality. A clever marketing move… I left with charcoal pencils and a watercolour set.

We were given questionnaires on arrival (kids and adult versions). Our son proudly tackled the adult one. It was interesting to see how pencils are made. Loved the vintage packaging, old school displays, and quirky objects. You can also see the world’s biggest pencil and learn about the secret map and compass pencil - fascinating!)

The space is a bit cramped and it was busy, which was a shame.At the end, after we returned our questionnaires, the staff gifted us acrylic pens and coloured pencils - proper ones, the GOOD stuff. Their marketing team deserves an award.

We hit traffic around Ambleside and arrived home exhausted.Spur-of-the-moment decision: we’d leave on Friday instead of Saturday - the forecast was awful and we wanted to make it back in time for trick-or-treating at home.

Friday - RHS Bridgewater + Runway Visitor Park

Left Bowness at 8am and drove to RHS Garden Bridgewater near Manchester. As RHS members (and you know my love for gardens!), we wanted to make the most of the detour. We spent about an hour exploring.

Then we headed to Manchester Airport’s Runway Visitor Park (yes, again!) for our aviation-obsessed son. Would have been rude not to stop - it’s such a good spot if you're into planes (read more about it here, from our bank holiday week end in Manchester in May).

Left Manchester around 1pm. The drive back was… long. Truly nightmarish at times. But we made it, and our youngest squeezed in 30 minutes of trick-or-treating before the skies opened.

Final Thoughts

We really enjoyed our trip. There’s so much to see in the Lake District, and we barely scratched the surface - but we had a lovely mix of hikes, museums, and downtime.

100% recommended for families.

If you have questions, feel free to email me!

Toponymy note (because we wondered!):

Fell means mountain

Rigg means ridge

Force means waterfall

You can read more here.

Useful links to Google Maps of the places we visited:

Levens Kitchen, Kendal LA8 0PD, Google Maps

Car Park in Ambleside:

Rydal Road Car Park, 1-3 Rydal Rd, Ambleside LA22 9AN,, Google Maps

Loughrigg Fell, Google Maps

Rydal Cave, Google Maps

The Tilly Bar and Kitchen, 13 Crescent Rd, Windermere LA23 1EA, Google Maps

National Park Print Shop, 25A Crescent Rd, Windermere LA23 1BJ, Google Maps

Bowness Pier - Windermere Lake Cruises, Winander house, Glebe Rd, Bowness-on-Windermere, Windermere LA23 3HE, Google Maps

Lakeland Motor Museum, Old Blue Mill, Backbarrow, Ulverston LA12 8TA, Google Maps

Aira Force (waterfall), near Watermillock, Penrith, Cumbria, CA11 0JS, Car Park Google Maps

Castlerigg Stone Circle (English Heritage), Castle Ln, Keswick CA12 4RN, Google Maps

Derwent Pencil Museum, Southey Works, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 5NG, Google Maps

RHS Garden Bridgewater, Occupation Rd, Worsley, Manchester M28 2LJ, Google Maps

Manchester airport, Runway Visitor Park, Sunbank Ln, Altrincham WA15 8XQ, Google Maps