Are accommodation bookings necessary in Lake District, and further north in mid June

If you are driving you might have luck with farmhouse listings in the Lake District. The Lake Hotels will probably be booked by Tour groups. Universities sometimes have rooms available in the Summer. Also check Resort Camping...some have really nice cottages or Cabins. If you are planning to go to Gretna Green check with the Tourist Office in Dumphries for listings. Oban might be busy in June because some may stay there to take Ferry. We stayed in a small hotel near the University in Edinburgh south of Downtown but still walking distance...I remember that we did call ahead...we saw the listing in a brochure we picked up at Tourist Office. You can look on line but maybe not every one lists on the web. I think that you may be able to take chances if you stay just outside of main tourist locations. Motels near the main roads are also available.

Traveling without advance booking can lead to pleasant surprises and unpleasant ones too. In mid-June there will be a fair amount of competition for lodging. As others have commented elsewhere on these forums, when you book ahead you get to evaluate and choose the best value and the nicest location to suit your interests and preferences. If you show up at the last minute, you take what's left so it is a gamble. You could end up paying a lot more than you budgeted, and/or having to drive another hour late in the day to find someplace with a room available.

Your 10-day itinerary seems fairly reasonable. I'd definitely turn in the rental car at Edinburgh airport and sleep in Edinburgh the night before your flight. If you're not interested in seeing the city, there are hotels right at the airport. Personally I'd allow 2 nights so I could have at least a day to see the city.

I'm been there during the month of June without having prebooked, there are hundreds of B&Bs that rely only on their signs. When it gets close to time that you want to stop for the night start looking for B&B signs, when you see one shop and ask if they have a room available, they usually offer to show you the room before you decide if you want to stay there. Have never spent more then 15 minutes looking for a B&B. You could also go to the Tourist Information Center in the village/town and they can book a room for you.

The Lake District gets very booked up so I'd say a pre-booking there would be sensible. After that, further north, you may be able to just turn up, but ultimately you might end up some distance from where you ideally wanted to be. If you have somewhere specific you want to stay, booking ahead would be a good idea to avoid disappointment.

Have a great trip!

Ian

Thanks for your ideas. I think we'll definitely book in the Lake District and Edinburgh before we leave the car and stay a couple of nights and will give some thought to the others, might book some. I'm not a great fan of not having a place to go in advance, though I also know people who have done it as they go. Further North, in Scotland, I'm just not sure how many B and B's there will actually be.

The last couple of times we've stayed in Keswick we booked into the Herdwick Guest House right in town. It's very clean, the owners are lovely, and it's an easy walk into town and to Derwentwater. We were able to find street parking with no problem.
Since you have a car though you might want to consider a farm stay or a stay at one of the inns or pubs in one of the smaller towns. I would highly recommend both The Fish Inn in Buttermere or the Tower Bank Arms in Sawrey...both are quite old and well known in the area. These towns can be a little crowded during the day but once the tourists disappear after about 4 in the afternoon they are absolutely heavenly!