How to get from Bath to Kenswick?

Please note that during part of July & probably all of August, train services may not be operating normally at Bath due to the installation of overhead wires. Should this be the case, alternative buses will be provided to say Bristol.

Yes, you can do this journey easily by train & a local bus. Keswick is not on the rail network so you will need to get to Penrith first.
www.nationalrail.co.uk will have the details. Select the date you require & put in for a journey from Bath to Penrith - you should find a convenient service departs Bath at 10.02 for the short hop to Bristol arr.10.15. (Click 'details'). At Bristol (Temple Meads) dep. 10.30am, you change to the Cross Country Penzance (Cornwall) to Glasgow express. Although going to Scotland, this express will go via Newcastle so at Birmingham (arr. 11.45), you must change to a Virgin Trains express going from London to Edinburgh. This departs Birmingham at 12.15. This will take you to Penrith which you arrive at 14.42.

www.traveline.info tells me that a bus (on todays schedule) leave Penrith station at 15.17 to arrive Keswick at 16.04 - so we can expect the same for your chosen date.

Now, by pre-booking, you should find the rail fare to be £53.50 one way (each person). However, due to the madness of the British Rail pricing policy, you can reduce this by buying 3 tickets as follows:>
Bath > Cheltenham £8.60; Cheltenham (depart 11.01) > Birmingham New Street = £6.90 and BHM > Penrith = £26.00 so we now have a total of £41.50. (You do not leave the train at Cheltenham - a split point. You are travelling on exactly the same trains). Please note that all train Advance ticket purchases apply to that particular train(s). Just turning up & paying on the day will be much more costly. If you purchase 'split' tickets & say the first train is late & you miss the connection & have to wait for the next train to Birmingham (usually 30 minutes later), you may have problems as you would be on the 'wrong' train to the one you pre-booked. You may therefore, wish to consider paying the through fare of £53.50. Please note that fares can vary occurring to when the search was made. They will normally increase as date of travel approaches. First Class fares are also available.

I would suggest that you pre-book the whole trip with either www.virgintrains.co.uk or www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk (They supply the tickets - even for the other companies). You will be sent a booking number & they will require your debit card details. When you arrive in the UK - bring the same debit card and preferable a print out of your booking number. These can be inserted into a ticket machine but you may wish to see a humanoid at Bath station who should be able to issue you with your tickets. (I suggest you go a day or 2 before travel at a quieter time to get your tickets).

Sorry, 3 trains and a bus with luggage is not "easy" and it takes ages! Your best option is to hire a car and then you will have it available when in the Lakes as in my opinion, going to the Lakes without a car is nuts!

I've taken the train from southern England to the Lake District numerous times. The easiest way is to take the train to Oxenholme then to Windermere...Penrith takes you far out of the way to the northeast IMHO. The drive up through the Lakes from Windermere to Keswick is beautiful.
From Windermere you can take the bus up into the Lakes...the public bus goes straight up the A591 to Keswick.
I have spent many weeks cumulatively in the Lake District and have used public transport on some of the trips and rented a car for others.
The bus system in the Lakes is actually quite excellent and you can go most anywhere you will likely want to go. They have luggage racks on the main routes so that shouldn't be a worry for you if you choose to use the bus.
That said, a car obviously gives you a lot more flexibility. The buses do stop running rather early in the evenings on many of the routes so if you want to stay out and about late you should rent a car.
I will also add that driving on the "wrong" side of the road in the Lakes is not for the faint of heart...the roads can be extremely narrow, hemmed in on both sides by stone walls, lambs and sheep running around and sleeping on the road, and buses and lorries use these roads just as frequently as cars.

Well, here is the road route - which takes about 5 hours driving time & does involve the congested motorways in the Birmingham area:>http://www.theaa.com/route-planner/index.jsp#fromNode=0%7CBath%7C%7C-2.359904%7C51.375801%7CtoNode=0%7CKeswick%7C%7C-3.134706%7C54.601276

You will note that the AA also advise going by road via Penrith as it is faster!

You may wish to open Google Earth and try and follow the route. In the side bar, if you tick 'traffic' - it will show you how fast everyone is moving (from the road sensors) - but take account of UK time.

You could always hire a car once at Penrith, Oxenholm or Windermere/ Keswick. (I stated Penrith was the easiest as train will be on the main line to Scotland. To reach Winderemere involves another change of train & a slower journey down a branch line - though not that far from the main line at Oxenholm).

I only suggested Oxenholme - Windermere because, to me, it's not always about the speed of the trip, it's also about the quality of the scenery along the way. The route that skirts the Lakes and goes up to Penrith isn't interesting nor is the bus ride between Penrith and Keswick. It's a little faster but the ride from Windermere up to Keswick will give you a good overview of several other parts of the area you may want to visit while you are there and it is a gorgeous drive.