Good home base in the Lake District - north vs south

We stayed in Keswick, but drove south to Cartmel to have sticky toffee pudding where it originated. We also stopped at Sarah Nelson’s Grasmere Gingerbread Shop. Both were worthwhile stops. If you want to take a walk you can walk part way, or all the way around Lake Derwentwater. To me, it’s personal preference, where you’re coming from and where you’re going to afterwards.

Keswick isn’t better than some of the places in the southern Lake District. Guidebooks have a limit as to what can be included. Personally, I prefer the quieter Eskdale area for walking. I have been to the Lake District dozens of times and only occasionally visit Keswick.

Each of the towns has their own merits, one is not better than any other. If only in the area for 2 nights and going to Hill Top it makes sense to stay in the south end close to where you want to be, rather than battling traffic from Keswick. I am assuming you are driving. Windermere and Ambleside get very traffic congested and if you are here at the end of May you will likely be co-inciding with the Bank Holiday weekend.
If you can find somewhere to stay in the villages of Hawkshead or Coniston then you are out of the melee of Windermere/Ambleside, very close to Hill Top and have lots of hiking on your doorstep.
They are only villages but both have well developed tourist infrastructure.
Otherwise I would look at staying just out of the Lakes at Kendal, Grange over Sands or even Ulverston (home of Stan Laurel, the comedian, where there is a museum to him), all of which are a very easy drive away.
If going to Hill Top a useful way to avoid traffic from the South end is to use the A590 to Newby Bridge then the A592 to Windermere and the Windermere car ferry across the lake.
The other useful cut through from Kendal to the car ferrry is to use the Lyth Valley road up through Crook, rather than the A591. That's a very nice route scenically.
Kendal especially you are then straight onto the M6 for your journey to Edinburgh.

If you want to visit Hill Top and the Beatrix Potter experience in Bowness on the same day, then the easiest way between the two is to use the foot ferry (operated by Windermere Lake Cruises) from Ferry House (on the Hawkshead side) to Bowness. It avoids the parking problems which Bowness has. Or even use the car ferry as a foot pax, and take the short walk into Bowness town round the headland.

Hi JMP -

isn31c knows his/her stuff, so I’d pay close attention to what he/she says. The fact that I would have said something similar has nothing to do with it!

If you are only in the area for two days and Hill Top is top priority, then I too would be looking at the Hawkshead/Coniston area. I have a soft spot for Coniston myself.

There’s plenty of good hiking in the area dependent on what your level of ambition and/or ability is. You can take in the easy small summit of Latterbarrow, walk Claife Heights above Sawrey or if you are up for something more challenging then the ascent of the Old Man of Coniston is a fascinating trawl through its historical mining background even if you don’t go as far as the top. Don’t go in any of the old and open levels though - dangerous!

If feeling in need of more sedate activities there’s Ruskin’s house Brantwood to visit and the steam powered yacht Gondola plies its trade on Coniston. Bowness and Windermere are very busy areas but have a couple of interesting things to do, for instance the short climb to Orrest Head or the Steamboat Museum, or a sail on Windermere, but if I’m honest I do tend to avoid there and Ambleside, because of their popularity and how busy they get.

Keswick is a good base but also gets very busy and for where you want to be at least initially, I’m not sure is necessary. You’ll drive through the Lakes almost to Keswick before picking up more major roads to Edinburgh I assume? (It occurs that you could take in Hadrians Wall if you went cross country to Edinburgh. Wall at its best between Greenhead and Housesteads).

Have a great trip!

Ian

Tarn Hows is also a lovely walk from Monk Coniston at the top of Lake Coniston

Keswick was a great base

I'm a fan of the northern part. We stayed all the way near Cockermouth, and visited Aira Force waterfall, Castlerigg stone circle, and did an easy hike Latrigg, using this guide: https://theportablewife.com/travel/destinations/latrigg-walk-keswick-england/. If you have the opportunity, try to stop along Hadrian's wall on your way to Edinburgh.

If Hill Top is a must, then I agree that the Hawkshead/Coniston area is best for a home base. Be aware that the roads to Hill Top are extremely narrow and lined with stone walls and hedges. I often encountered huge tour buses and wasn't sure that we could squeeze by each other. As others have suggested, on your way to Edinburgh you should visit Hadrian's Wall. I didn't know much about Roman Britain, so it was a revelation to see how advanced the Roman Empire was even at its frontiers. It's worth spending a day or two, but for a quick visit, I'd walk along the wall from the Steel Rigg trailhead and visit the Vindolanda Musuem. If you have more time, hire Peter Carney for a guided tour. He's excellent and Rick recommends him in his guidebook.

Just remember that the Coach and Delivery drivers are professional drivers. They know the size of their vehicles and will not pass you in the opposing direction if there is not room.
It is a spectator sport for us locals watching the terrified visitors driving. Do know how to reverse in a straight line in a tight space, and do know how to fold your wing mirrors in. Understand the width of your car. Trust the locals.
The worst thing you can do if a bus or truck is squeezing by in the opposite direction is to panic and try to change your road position.
On the road from Ambleside to Hawkshead there are certain bends where it is guaranteed fun for bystanders!
Often a truck or bus driver will get down from their cab and direct traffic to clear the road. Obey their directions.
On your way out to Edinburgh you pretty much have to go out to Ambleside.
There are two ways from Hawkshead to Hill Top- the main road from the front of the village and the other road down the other side of Esthwaite Water from the back of the village- it's barely any longer a route and is far quieter.
The other thing I would suggest is that when you come off the Motorway ignore the signs for the A591 and the Lake District. Instead take the A590 for Barrow in Furness. After about 10 miles you will reach a roundabout at a place called Newby Bridge. There is a really lovely hotel there- the Swan Hotel. Or about two miles further on, on the north side of the road is the Rusland Pool Hotel. Both are great places to stay and eat.
From Newby Bridge it's less than 10 miles through quiet country lanes to Hill Top. You go past Lakeside Steamer pier (the southern terminus of the Windermere Lake Steamers) and along part of the Haverthwaite Steam Railway, and soon reach Stott Park Bobbin Mill. Bobbin making was one of the local industries and well worth a look in.
From the Rusland Pool there is another slightly longer route on these quiet lanes past Bouth (where a Caravan park occupies the site of an old gunpowder works), through Rusland (where the Children's author Arthur Ransome, of Swallows and Amazon's fame, is buried), then Satterthwaite to Grizedale Forest Park. This was a former hall, but is now a flagship Forestry Commission site (it was also a POW camp for German Officers in WW2 with one famous escape). Among other attractions is an extensive outdoor sculpture trail- all made from fallen trees. A lot of imagination has gone into them. And a very nice cafe there. For a time there was also a theatre tucked away there. Loads and loads of really great walks of all grades in the forest. You will learn a lot at Grizedale about the local industries. There is a quite different feel to this area, maybe more the "real" Lake District, whatever that is. If you don't know about the Arthur Ransome books read up on them, even better see either the original or the remake of the Swallows and Amazons movie. Apart from Donald Campbell and his speed records, and the slate industry of hundreds of years standing, Ransome is also part of the fabric of Coniston. One of the cruises you can take on Coniston follows some of the locations in the book. You can also walk the lake Coniston shore in between the numerous jetties. This long post is only scratching the surface of this small part of the Southern Lake District. Much more to explore in this area, but not in 2 days. It is not just Beatrix and walking.

@ Thos in his post above mentions a Tour Guide.
If you look at that guide's website you will see Border Reivers Tours. That is something worth hiring a guide for.
The Reivers are the other great aspect of history of Hadrian's Wall Country which it is very worthwhile learning something about.
The border area was often known as the Debateable lands, with an ill defined border between the two countries and much lawlessness.
You can see that as much as the Wall, in the castles and the fortified Churches of the area, but it needs more interpretation on the ground. These are not grand Castles, both the Castles and Churches were places of refuge for the local population from raiding parties, places that could easily be defended. The stories are thrilling, gruesome and sobering in the same sentence.
The Reivers and the Romans are inter-linked in the history of the area.

I read the Arthur Ransome books avidly as a kid growing up. They were old then and rather dated now but that only adds to their charm for me. I reread them - I have them all in our bookcase! - every now and then, my favourites being Winter Holiday and Pidgeon Post, although for new readers these are a bit meaningless unless you’ve previously read the original Swallows and Amazons.

I particularly liked that the kids didn’t take on dangerous armed criminals and beat them, or generally solve great mysteries better left to the authorities, they actually fouled up spectacularly more often than not, sinking Swallow in the second book and accidentally sailing to Holland in We Didn’t Mean To Go To Sea. But the books were full of practical information about sailing, and in Pidgeon Post how to make charcoal and how to smelt copper!

Captain Walker’s telegram to the Swallows is a life message for us all - “Better drowned than than duffers. If not duffers won’t drown”.