How to spend Christmas week in The Lakes!

[SipChampagneWhenWeThirsty]

Hiya,

I'll be spending Christmas week in the Lake District with extended family this year. I would be grateful for suggestions of things we might like to do during that week.

We'll be staying in Ambleside. 4 families, 3 of the families have 2x children each. Children range in age from 0 years to 11 years old. The older couple are in their late 60's early 70's.

Each family will have their own vehicle.

Some of us are keen to get out of the house at least 1x per day, either for a nice drive, or a nice walk. Adventure playgrounds or similar for the children would be ideal and possibly meals out, either a lunch or dinner each day.

The majority of us are reasonably healthy and fit, but we'll have at least 1x, if not 2x prams with us each day (Stoke Xplory), and baby carriers/slings as alternatives if a pram is too cumbersome.

Can you share your favourite places to visit, walk, eat, sight-see whilst you're in the Lakes? What should we be aware of, plan for in advance? I think I've read that parking can cost a fortune, are there ways to pre-pay for parking or anything like that?

Any words of wisdom, advice and/or information would be really appreciated, 🙏 many thanks in advance!

Check out the miles without stiles website for pushchair friendly walks.

Brockhole on Windermere is great for kids.

Grasmere is lovely for a mooch and some nice places to eat.

Ambleside Tap good for pizzas etc.

For parking in Ambleside, you can pick up a permit from one of the shops that gets you free on street parking.

It all depends how far you want to travel from Ambleside really.

The World of Beatrix Potter is a really lovely family attraction.
The Old Laundry Theatre has a couple of Christmassy shows on this year.

Hi! Rydal Water and Grasmere Village are two short strolls in Ambleside that are suitable for prams, while Brockholes on Windermere is a fantastic adventure playground for youngsters. Enjoy family lunches at quaint locations like The Drunken Duck or Apple Pie Café, and take picturesque drives like Kirkstone Pass to Ullswater. To reduce parking difficulties, arrive early at popular locations and wear layers for the cold.

The Crafty Baa in Windermere gave our dc free snacks and colouring while we waited. We loved the atmosphere there.
The Sun Inn at Crook has a decent children’s menu, board games and colouring for the dc.

If you are there for Nye , everyone takes fireworks to the park and it's really nice

Be aware that most car parks around the Lakes do take payment via the various apps but not all the same one, so download them all before you go. Also, many of the car parks don’t have adequate 5G or 4G signal, making it difficult / impossible to use the apps. Take plenty of change!

Take coins for parking, sometimes the more remote car parks won't take cards or reception is dodgy for paying, but probably no issue in the towns themselves. I always burn through coins in the lakes. Lowther castle has a playground, not sure what the set-up is in winter. Carlisle castle filled a few hours on a very wet day once, and we were also planning to go to Lannercost priory as we have EH membership, but headed back to do a short walk instead. You don't say where you are staying. There are a few Wainwrights (hills in his books) just north of Keswick like Binsey, Sale fell, Long fell that individually can be knocked out in a hour, not pram friendly but walkable by little kids, fine for a carrier. Likely to be muddy, it's been wet recently. Tarn Hows is a gentle amble, potentially pram friendly (didn't have a pram) and Black crag (another Wainwright) is at the back (definitely not pram friendly) can be added on. I am assuming you all have boots and stuff. We go to the Lake District for walking, never turn down chance to bag some Wainwrights, even when the kids were small.

Wray Castle is good. The building itself is currently closed for refurbishment unfortunately but the grounds are nice and a good starting point for an easy walk alongside the far side of the lake.
If you want a specific Christmas themed day out Sizergh Castle has a Winter event on with lights and willow sculptures. I think it's on until Christmas Eve. It will be very busy though. I'm not sure if you can book ahead but if you can that* *would probably be a good idea - have a look on the National Trust website.
Both Grizedale and Whinlatter Forest have a good variety of trails and decent, if a bit pricey, cafes.
If you go into Keswick,the path to Threlkeld along the old railway line is easy and pushchair accessible with some lovely views. If it's open, the cafe in Threlkeld village hall does great soup which is always welcome on a cold day! At the other end of the walk, the cafe in Keswick museum is run by Cafe West which is an organisation that provides training and employment for people with learning disabilities. Of course there are dozens of great cafes in Keswick but I tend to go there because it's such a good cause and it's sometimes a little bit quieter than the places on the main street, though nowhere in Keswick is quiet really!
If the older kids fancy ice skating there's a temporary rink at a hotel called Another Place on the shore of Ullswater. Again, likely to be busy so you probably need to pre book. As others have said, the Kirkstone Pass is currently closed and likely to be so for several months but the landslip is on the Windermere side and you can still get up The Struggle from Ambleside, though if the weather is poor and you're not used to driving on that type of road you might be better going on the main roads. It will be a little under an hour if you go up to Keswick and then take the A66 eastbound. Turn right at the Rheged roundabout and then right again when you get to the T junction by the lake, it's an easy drive.
Reghed itself is not a bad idea for a rainy day. I'm not sure what they have on at the moment but I would expect there to be some child friendly films and activities over the holidays. And there's a nice cafe and a few shops for the adults. Speaking of shops, my kids used to love the Christmas display at Hayes Garden Centre in Ambleside when they were little so you could probably kill a couple of hours there if the weather is bad too.
Food wise, there's a huge range of options in the area. If you want a traditional Lakeland pub my personal favourites in the Windermere area are the Badger Bar at the Glen Rothay Hotel and The Hole in T'Wall in Bowness. Further afield I have never had a bad meal at the White Horse in Scales, just off the A66 east of Keswick and the Kirkstile Inn at Loweswater is lovely though maybe a bit far for you. There's a lot to commend the Western lakes if you don't mind the drive though.
Hope you have a lovely time!

It can be worth, if you'll use the membership other times, buying National Trust membership for the free parking in the Lakes.

Have a lovely time.

Keswick climbing wall has beginner friendly sections. Maybe book some instruction etc.

Zeffirellis Ambleside is great for food, live music and cinema.

Alpacally Ever After, an alpaca rescue/charity have a lovely base at the Lingholme Estate on the shore of Derwent Water. You can walk the alpacas down to the lake or just do a meet-and-greet, it's suitable for all ages. There's a lovely cafe at Lingholme too, the Walled Garden.

Thanks so much for all of these wonderful suggestions, they're really appreciated 🙏.

I'm going to try and pull some sort of itinerary together with all of this information.

I'm hopeful that this will be the first of many trips over the coming years, so these amazing recommendations and suggestions will stand us and anyone else that happens upon this thread in good stead for the future!

Thanks again! 😊