Car rental - Penrith or Carlisle?

I've only been to Penrith and I just attended a ceramics fair and then walked around the center of town for about an hour. I took no notice of car-rental agencies. What I saw of Penrith was pleasant but not spectacular. I know nothing of Carlisle, but isn't it a good bit larger?

I'd price out both options, at least with AutoEurope. I think there might be a significant difference in cost.

I keep reading here about not being able to pick up cars on Sunday at a lot of locations in Europe, so I'd be very careful about planning a Saturday pick-up for fear of some sort of transportation delay.

If you're arriving in the Lake District by train, does that mean Penrith? Carlisle is a good ways further north. We liked Penrith as a real workaday town; the high street shops sell things that local residents actually need. (In contrast to Keswick, in the heart of the Lake District, which we felt was very touristy.) The Penrith TI office was helpful. We didn't happen to notice any car rental garages, but petrol stations were easy to find.

BTW, if you drive into Keswick and are in need of lavatory facilities, you'll want to know they're located at the pay & display car park -- not at the TI office, which is several blocks away. They are not well signposted.

Penrith is OK but nothing special. Carlisle is a small city (the county town of Cumbria) and had has a couple of good museums; but neither place would hold you for more than a day. Penrith is much closer to the Lakes.

Thank you for your kind replies. The reason I was considering Carlisle is because it's a bigger town and might have more options. Also, I was thinking about a short trip to Hadrian's Wall for the afternoon before heading to our lodging in the Lake District. Penrith does have an Enterprise rental agency, but I think that's it. I've never used Auto Europe before, just booked direct with Hertz last time. Any pros or cons with Auto Europe? Thank you!

Since I've never rented in Europe, I have absolutely no personal experience with AutoEurope. However, guidebooks have been recommending it as an option for many decades, pointing out its rates are often (not always) lower than those you'd get by going directly to the rental-car company.

Two other consolidators people have mentioned are Kemwel and Gemut, but I think more people have used AutoEurope. Several on this forum have said AutoEurope intervened to help them when a rental agency wasn't holding up its end of the deal, so this seems to be a case when booking though an intermediary may turn out to be helpful.

Take the train to Penrith and use Enterprise. They are fantastic in the UK and we have used them many times in England and Scotland. They will even pick you up from the station, take you to the office, get you set up, and you'll be on your way.
It's a short, very easy drive to Keswick. If I remember correctly their Saturday hours are very limited - open for just a few hours since it's a smallish town. You should arrive on Monday unless you can guarantee you can arrive during their open hours.

Thanks again, everyone! I've been checking prices with AutoEurope and Enterprise and it looks like it will be somewhat of a push between them. Penrith is closer by a little to our farm stay between Penrith and Keswick, so I'm thinking I'll give Enterprise a go since they will pick us up at the train station. I can also drop the car off in Inverness when we're done with it. I'll also change our dates a bit to arrive in Penrith on a Monday. Looking forward to spending more time in our favorite places from last trip to UK and adding some new spots we missed last time! Jenny

Regarding Hadrian's Wall, I highly recommend it but I think you should plan more than a couple of hours to do it justice. Dress for the weather and go out and walk on the actual wall. (I've only visited it at the Housesteads location, but I understand the Birdoswald location has even more to offer.)