Last month we spent a weekend glamping in Keswick. It was utterly beautiful and we had a very lovely and very busy weekend. The weather was fine and I think we spent our time well, seeing some of the sights and appreciating the beautiful Lake District landscape. If you’re planning a visit to Keswick or the Lake District, here’s our round-up of five things to do in Keswick.
Keswick Launch Boat Trip around Derwentwater
A trip to the Lake District isn’t complete without a boat trip. Be it hiring a rowing boat and doing it yourself, or climbing aboard one of the beautiful steamers, it’s a great way to explore the lakes. We went on a trip around Derwentwater in one of the beautiful Keswick Launch boats. You can hop on and off the boat at various points around the lake, which makes it great for exploring the area.
Derwentwater is excessively beautiful. On the day we took our boat trip, the sun was shining but the sky was full of dramatic clouds. It’s well worth taking some time out for a boat trip.
An adult round trip day pass £10.75; Children (5-15 years) £5.65; Children under 5 go free; special group rates for over 10 persons.
The Derwent Pencil Museum, Keswick
The Derwent Pencil Museum is located in Keswick town centre and is much more interesting than you might think. There’s the World’s Largest Pencil, a large collection of novelty pencil sharpeners; The Queen’s diamond Jubilee pencil and some amazing miniature pencil sculptures.
There are also some audio-visual exhibits and the fascinating story of how the Derwent Pencil Factory developed the technology to hide tiny maps and a compass inside a pencil for our agents to use in WW2. Plus a lovely area where you can sit and draw for as long as you want.
The Derwent Pencil Museum has a good shop, a great cafe and it’s a cracking way to spend an afternoon in Keswick. You can read our full review here.
Castlerigg Stone Circle
High above the town sits Castlerigg Stone Circle, which overlooks the Thirlmere Valley with the mountains of High Seat and Helvellyn as a backdrop. The stone circle is thought to have been constructed around 3000 BC, and is potentially one of the earliest stone circles in the country.
It’s worth the short drive up to Castlerigg for the panoramic views alone, but I loved the atmosphere up there. It felt like a very special place, which it is. It’s free to visit, there are a couple of information boards and usually an ice cream van. What more do you need?
Keswick Market
If you’re visiting Keswick on a weekend, it would be almost rude not to visit the market. Keswick Market takes place every Saturday and has everything you could want; from fruit and veg, meat, scotch eggs, pasties, toys, crafts, pet beds, jam and chutney, and brilliant bakers. We filled our boots (well, our car boot) with lovely things, made a start on our Christmas shopping and just spent a couple of hours browsing, buying and generally enjoying the lovely market.
The Lakes Distillery
The Lakes Distillery is located a short drive out of Keswick. I really wanted to do the tour, but we arrived too late, so we had a meal in their fabulous on-site bistro instead. It’s worth going for the food alone, but the distillery tour looked really interesting.
They have a few different tours as well as tastings, plus a meet the alpacas tour, which my 7 year old would have really enjoyed. We will just have to go back again and do all the cool things we missed out on. We did manage a quick look at the public areas and bought some nice things to take home from the shop.
To find out more about the Lakes Distillery, visit their website.
Have you visited Keswick recently? Have I missed anything? Where would you visit if you were in the area?
