There’s a strip of land, facing the Isle of Man (Great Britain), that juts out toward neighboring Ireland with uncertainty, as if it wanted to touch it but gave up at the last moment, recoiling. This strange square hump, this “lump” on the side of the largest island in the British archipelago, so ugly to look at on the map, is home to one of the most beautiful and perhaps least-known natural paradises in the world: Lake District National Park, or… simply… the Lake District. Since spring is the ideal season to visit, and since there are three airports serving the area (Leeds Airport, Manchester Airport, and the closest Liverpool Airport)… take advantage of it!
Lake District: the great park
The Lake District is the largest of all the nature reserves in England and Wales and, overall, in the entire United Kingdom, it is the second largest park after Cairngorms.
Sized 53 km wide and 64 km long, the National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2017) owes its unique morphology to recent glaciations that carved out narrow, twisting valleys, leaving behind—as the ice melted—bodies of water of rare beauty. The park lies entirely within the county of Cumbria, and among its wonders is Scafell Pike, England’s highest mountain.
Beautiful Lakes
The lakes of the Lake District are the deepest in England and, together with the surrounding hills and mountains, offer some of the most beautiful natural scenery. So beautiful that they inspired numerous poets and writers in the 19th century, fostering the birth of a movement called the “Lake Poets” of which William Wordsworth was the leading exponent.
Dozens of tourist trails wind through the ferns and heathland that gather around the tarns (circular lakes located at higher altitudes) and the pine and oak forests that adorn the larger lakes further downstream. They lead you to discover not only the lakes but also the woods, villages, traditions and surrounding towns.
The bodies of water are so numerous that it’s impossible to list them all, just as it’s impossible to visit them all. Among the most famous are: Bassenthwaite, Brothers, Buttermere, Coniston Water, Crummock Water, Derwent Water, Devoke Water, Elter Water, Ennerdale Water, Esthwaite Water, Grasmere, Haweswater Reservoir, Hayeswater, Loweswater, Rydal Water, Thirlmere, Ullswater, Wast Water, and Windermere. And from this select group, here are the “chosen ones” to focus on, in our opinion.
Bassenthwaite: “the” lake
Bessenthwaite is the only one of the many in the Lake District to be called a “lake” (the others are called water or ponds, despite their size) and owes its origins to the melting of an ancient glacier. Its waters are home to an extremely rare fish species that has never crossed the borders of this region. The splendid local flora can be admired via the paths that run along the western shore, while to the east the only way is the private path of the historic Mirehouse residence.
Windermere the Great
Lake Windermere Water is the largest in England, covering 14.73 square kilometers (18 square kilometers in length), surrounded by rolling green hills and fishing villages. It bears the name of a Viking and has been used since Roman times as a trade route, so to avoid the difficult mountain roads. From the 19th century it became a tourist destination, first for the wealthy gentlemen of Lancashire and, later, for the middle class as well. Its shores perpetuate the legend of Beatrix Potter— famous English fairytale author—who called this lake home.
The twin lakes
The twin lakes are Buttermere and Crummock Water, located in a long, narrow valley that also includes a third body of water—Loweswater. In effect, they are “triplets”, although only the first two are truly famous among English hikers. Surrounded by splendid wilderness, they harbor legendary and horrific stories—such as the murder of young Sheena Owlett in Crummock. Scale Force, the park’s tallest waterfall, also is part of Crummock views. Buttermere—named after a charming village with typically British architecture—is linked to the figure of Mary Robinson, a beautiful and much-courted waitress who lived at the famous Fish Hotel in the 18th century.
The deepest Wast
Wast Water is the deepest lake in the park and in all of England, reaching a depth of 79 meters. Surrounded by the nation’s highest peaks, it forms a captivating and romantic landscape that has inspired numerous poems in the past. Its name is linked to the “curse of the dwarves”, a mysterious event that occurred in the early 2000s: after the deaths of several divers, careful research uncovered dozens of garden decorations (gnomes and fences) located at the bottom. The police deduced that the divers died while challenging each other to recover those objects, but people still say that it was precisely those “evil dwarves” who killed them with their curse.
Wild Ennerdale
Located in the westernmost part of the park, and far from the main tourist routes, Ennerdale Water is wild and mysterious, exciting for adventure seekers but not good for everyone. A designated Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, thanks to its isolation, it is home to unusual species, including the Arctic char. In 1810, a mysterious “carnivorous animal” killed hundreds of sheep; no one ever saw it, but those who did glimpse its shadow described it as a gigantic dog—a monster called The Girt.
The Human Environment Around the Lakes
Around these lakes, human presence has left precious traces over the centuries. Some of the most beautiful things to see in the Lake District are undoubtedly Holker Hall Gardens in Holehird (on Lake Windermere), Wray Castle and Sizergh Castle (also on Windermere), Muncaster Castle near Devoke Pond, and Lowther Castle and Gardens near Ulls Water. Also worth visiting are Wordsworth House and the Mirehouse estate, near Bassenthwaite Lake, and Beatrix Potter’s house between lakes Windermere and Esthwaite.
