Lake District Accommodation

Is Keswick (pop five or six thousand) a city?

I think Keswick would be perfect. I would just like to spend a few days away from the "hustle and bustle" of large cities since I'll be spending so much time in Helsinki and London.

Then do it. I can't name a place, but eighty bucks a night is well within the range for the area and the town is full of them. One hint: if anybody tells you Castlerigg is a nice walk, kneecap them. It's a mean stinking hill and pushing the oxygen cart sucks. And the rope holding the skateboard across your back so you can zoom back down chafes like holy hell. Second hint: plan on devoting several hours to the pencil museum. Third hint: skip the Indian joint unless you want a belly ache.

I don't think Keswick has a train station. It'd probably be bus after Penrith which is fifteen or twenty miles to the east.

Ed is correct about how to get there (which is easy enough) and about the walk up to Castlerigg. It was a nice walk but not easy. I has a sore Achilles and it was a bit rough on me. But we stayed there in August without a car and had no problem occupying ourselves. We joked before and after we went about seeing the world's largest pencil on our honeymoon, too! I could dig up the B&B we stayed at if you want, but honestly, they have bunches of them all in rows in that town that are probably all roughly the same. Check if you are going at a busy time because you may have to book in advance if the Christian conference (or something) they have every summer is happening when you want to go.

I vote for Keswick as well. Don't walk to Castlerigg but do take the bus. It drops you right near the stone circle and from there it's an easy walk to the Cragg Bar across some beautiful fields. The walk back down to town through the woods is actually quite nice! Anywhere of the B&Bs in Keswick will fine place to stay...I prefer the ones above the large, grassy park overlooking Derwentwater...about 6 or 7 to choose from. Do avoid the pencil museum but don't skip Bryson's for take away sandwiches for any walking or hiking you want to do. Delicious! To get to Keswick you can either ride the train to Oxenholme in the south and ride the bus up...or to Penrith and a different bus. I've done the Oxenholme route many times and been without a car on 4 out of my 5 visits and the bus system is great. They make it easy to visit some of the smaller villages in the lakes...
Enjoy your trip!

The Theatre by the Lake in Keswick is a great place to see a play. You can check out what they are doing at theatrebythelake.com. Not sure when you are going, but it looks like they have plays or performances most of the year.