Which two Lake District towns as bases for a week of hikes in June?

Firstly don't believe that the lodgings are selling fast.

That simply is not how the tourist industry works in the Lake District. Our Tourism industry is predominantly domestic and to a large extent weather dependent. So people book last minute not many months in advance.
We are not the Isle of Skye.
You are probably using something like booking.com. Yes they are a pain in the neck with their banners of '35% of our rooms are booked for this date. You must book fast'. It is being less than honest.

A lot of places (especially guest houses) in the Lake District either don't use booking.com at all or only put a small proportion of their rooms on there, because of the amount of revenue they are losing to the commission. Especially in Keswick there is a very active campaign against booking and a drive to get people to book direct.

Distances are small in the area so you could easily do the week from one base, whether or not you have a car or are using the very good bus services in the area.

For a one centre week I would suggest Grasmere or Ambleside. For a two centre week I would suggest Patterdale/Glenridding (two villages only about two miles apart) then Coniston or Hawkshead.

I know this forum is a Keswick centred forum, but Keswick is a busy tourist place and the County and the National Park service (as well as locals) are trying very hard to spread the load a bit.

With a car (but works without one as well using the main line train to Ravenglass then the 'Ratty' preserved railway) a very good place to stay for walkers would be Boot (in Eskdale). The only drawback (which could also be a big draw) is that the first weekend in June is the excellent Boot Beer Festival (5 to 8 June this year). There are several really good pubs to stay at in the valley, as well as a preserved water mill at Boot. For the weekend Sims run a shuttle bus round the pubs to guard against drink driving.

Hi Joe -

I suppose that it depends what sort of long hikes you want to do. If you are headed for the hilltops, then there are several locations, which I would hesitate to call towns, but which have accommodation and the walking is good straight out of the door. Consider Rosthwaite or Seatoller in Borrowdale. I had a decent stop over at the Glaramara Hotel in Seatoller last year, while my friends were staying a mile down the road in Rosthwaite at the Royal Oak Hotel (I left it late to book). Both places accessible by bus from Keswick. Also accessible by bus from Keswick is Buttermere, but accommodation here is limited I believe.

Patterdale and Glenridding near the head of Ullswater are larger ‘towns’ and have just about everything you would want on your wish list and a profusion of spectacular hikes from straight out of the door. Both places are served by bus from Windermere, the bus station handily situated outside the railway station there.

Consider Greater Langdale also. There is accommodation at Elterwater (The Britannia, or if feeling particularly flush, the Eltermere Inn). A slightly infrequent bus will ferry you to The Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel at the head of Great Langdale for easier access to the hills. You may be able to stay further up Langdale or halfway up at Chapel Stile, but you’d need to do a bit of research on that front as I’ve not stayed myself there for quite some time.

Also just outside Keswick is Braithwaite, which might suit your needs, and has good walking more or less out of the door. In the southern part of the Lakes I like Coniston, which doesn’t get mentioned here that often but qualifies as a town and has all the facilities you are looking for and is linked by bus to Ambleside. I try to avoid Windermere and Bowness and, less so, Ambleside as they get very busy, but they are worth visiting. Some years ago we had a great stop over at the Drunken Duck beyond Ambleside, but if not driving a car, access is probably only by taxi as I’m not sure it’s served by bus. It’s not especially great for hiking routes from the front door if I recall correctly - we were doing a trail race nearby on that occasion so priorities were different.

If you want to stay somewhere really remote the Wasdale Inn at the head of Wasdale has amazing routes from the door (although there’s no way it qualifies as ‘budget accommodation’) but I’m unsure how you’d get there without a car other than by taxi from one of the towns on the west coast. Maybe Stuart can advise!

There’s nothing wrong with Keswick as a base, it’s a lovely town with tons of options on where to stay and eat and with plenty of walking resupply options, but it’s undeniable that it does get incredibly busy. The walking options out of the door are not as large as you might expect but the bus station has a profusion of routes to get you nearer your objectives and the Keswick launches will get you to points on Derwentwater south of the town.

Feel free to ask if you need further answers!

Ian

P.S. If pushed into a corner and asked to choose only one place from the above, I’d cheat and say Patterdale/Glenridding!

Wasdale has a summer weekend Park and Ride bus from Ravenglass Station and Muncaster Castle, which has been free the last two years.
Depending on National Park funding levels it may or may not be free this year.
It also calls at a pop up car park in woodland opposite Nether Wasdale/Netherwasdale old mill (a nice, if not cheap, place to eat BTW).
With a car Santon Bridge is another nice place to eat - either the tea rooms or the biggest liar pub.
An attempt to solve the acute parking issues at the top of the valley.
Buttermere now also has a summer (Easter to October) bus to Cockermouth as well as the passes route, with augmented summer weekend service.
If going Buttermere way you could also consider Lorton as a place to stay - which is a proper village.
For the Drunken Duck you would get off the Coniston bus at either Pull Wyke or Outgate and a short walk through the lanes.
Last year Langdale and the ODG got their first ever hourly bus service, and even an evening bus. All funded by government BSIG money.
I don't know how much Westmorland got but in Cumberland we have £7 million to spend. I was at a meeting last Monday to brain storm how it is spent.

PS- If staying in Wasdale with a car there are several very good pubs in Gosforth (at the head of the valley) or go to Salt- the new seafood restaurant three miles further on- at Seascale.
About 30 minutes drive from Wasdale there is O'Hallorans@ The Old Captains House at Bigrigg. Bigrigg is an unassuming old Mining Village but O'Hallorans is one of the few restaurants on the West Cumbrian Coast which is seriously hard to get into, it is so good and popular with the locals.

That totally makes sense! I’ve noticed how booking sites love to push that ‘selling fast’ gimmick, but it’s good to know that last-minute bookings are common there. Same thing happens with laundromats in tourist-heavy areas—some places make it seem like you have to rush, but in reality, there are always options if you plan smart.