Please help me plan two day Lake District Trip

[lovenaturelovelife]

We're visiting Lake District on Thursday, our first trip to Lake area and will be staying in Penrith. I understand it's not enough time to explore all major attractions in Lake District area but we woukd like to see the top beauty spots. Weather wise it looks like cloudy day on Thursday and sunny on Friday.

We will be arriving in the area around 8/9 am on Thursday morning by car and will be leaving Lake district on Friday just after 6pm-two full days.
Grasmere, Beatrix potter Hilltop house are on our list so far and love to explore Windermere, Keswick , Buttermere or I'm overestimating the time.
On one day we would like to be stationed on one site and able to relax with beautiful walks, scenery and lovely cafes etc.
I'm thinking of doing this on Friday and on Thursday explore Windermere, Ambleside, Keswick etc. Husband wants to leave Buttermere as it's out of the way. I looked at Buttermere lakes photos and really want to explore that area as well.
Please provide any suggestions or hidden gems.
Which area we should explore to relax on Friday - Grasmere or Windermere or any other area?
I would really appreciate your help.

You want to explore Ambleside, Keswick, Windermere, Buttermere/Grasmere all.in 1 day?

I think that is ambitious unless you are just nipping in and out and not walking.

What do you want - the town/shops or lakeside and fells?

Ambleside town is lovely and is about a 15-20 walk to the lake and you could travel by boat to Bowness (both on Lake Windermere). I would not do Windermere itself unless you like towns.

If you are in Penrith then Ullswater is worth a visit. Pooley Bridge is cute, boats are going to Glenridding - walk to the mines at Glenridding brings in fantastic views but not too long a walk.

Keswick ie always lovely IMO. You could do a fell (e.g Latrigg, walk round part of the lake, shop, eat).

Buttermere is beautiful but quite a drive if intending to other stuff. Lovely low walk round the lake.

Keep in mind the Lakes at a very high level for August. Keswick boats aren't able to stop at the jettys across the Lakes. Buttermere is also very high and there's been a road block due to a little landslide (so check your route).

Thank you @Sheelanogig.We're visiting first time so I must have overestimated the time required to explore each area.
We'll leave Buttermere.

Ullswater looks really nice

Have you booked for Beatrix Potter Hill Top House?

I think you are overestimating how much you can fit in. The roads are v slow in the Lakes.

If you are going to Hill Top, I wouldn’t bother going down the other side of Windermere to Bowness-on-Windermere, and if you are heading for Grasmere don’t stop in Ambleside. The jams and parking in Ambleside are terrible.

Butteremere and Crummock water are very beautiful. Rannerdale Knotts is an achievable walk with good views if you fancy a little fell walking. Or there is a flat path round Buttermere.

Grasmere has a lovely village centre and lots of nice cafes.

From Penrith you could drive down to Pooley Bridge and get the steamer down Ullswater and back. Ullswater is the second longest lake and v beautiful.

From Keswick you could take the Keswick launch round Derwent Water.

We're more sort of after quiet villages rather than towns.

Ambleside, Windermere and Keswick aren’t quiet villages!

Assuming you’re not up for a full day of walking in the fells? Try this one. Big scenery reward for a short walk.

http://www.wainwrightroutes.co.uk/hallinfell_r1.htm

If you are up for more walking, there are loads of longer routes you can do.

Thank you @CitronellaDeVille - This is very helpful.Ullswater is on our list now.

We will skip Ambleside- and I haven't book Hilltop House. I will book this today. So Hilltop house first and then to Grasmere or if time allows Keswick in one day and next day Ullswater? Will this be achievable?

Thank you@Chemicalrainbow

You can walk to Pooley bridge from Penrith. I second Ullswater steamers from there. Grasmere and Ambleside are about 45 mins from Penrith. Hilltop is even further.

Hawkshead is nearer to Hilltop than Grasmere.

Grasmere is lovely, nice walk around the lake and there's shops/tea rooms/garden centre to check out whilst there along with Wordsworth final resting place. The gingerbread shop is also good to try

You can walk from Penrith to Pooley Bridge… but it is a 5.5 mile walk, double that for return or rely on the very sparse bus service to return. And tbh if I was going to do a walk of that length in the Lakes I would want it to be in the heart of the Lakes and fells, the scenery that identifies the LD.

Short drive from Penrith to Pooley Bridge at Ullswater. Park in farmers field in village about £4 for the day. Swim in Lake. Travel on ferry. Walk around Lake. Visit Glenridding at other end of same lake and do circuit up to YHA and slate mine and back down. Walk round waterfalls at Aira Force. Keswick is a great town and not too far from Penrith walking round town and down to Lake can take all day with fish and chips. I think that will totally fill your time. The Lake District area is huge and Windermere etc is so busy with lots of coach parties. I would stay more local to Penrith. Hope you have a great time!

Do the North Lakes, Ullswater & Keswick as people have suggested, if you're staying in Penrith. Come back some other time & base yourselves in the South and do Windermere/Ambleside/Cartmel etc

The issue you’ll have is that the most scenic bits of the Lakes tend to be the hill tops and those require time and effort to reach. You can’t just rock up in a car and see them. Think a full day’s walk instead.

If you want somewhere accessible from Penrith, I wouldn’t do the South Lakes - you’ll spend all day in the car. Keswick is a good base. It’s a large town but that means plenty of parking (parking is always an issue in the Lakes). Park at the Portinscale end. Walk over to Catbells then up (it’s steep!) and along the ridge. Catbells is one of the most accessible hills and gives lovely views of Derwentwater. Drop down on the path that leads to Manesty, then follow the path behind the road over to Grange - lovely small pretty village with a pleasant small cafe, nice church and a pretty river. Then walk back to Derwentwater (you can walk on the road if you like, it’s super quiet) and follow the lakeside path through the woodland back to Portinscale. If you get tired there are steamers on the lake which can carry you back to Keswick.

That’s a full day, but it’s accessible from Penrith, requires no technical skill other than basic map reading, and should be achievable for a normally fit party. It gives a lovely overview of different Lakes landscapes (hilltop/lakeside/woodland/village), and has a nice tea stop in the middle.

If you're going to hilltop I would recommend a visit to Hawkshead

I should have mentioned that we are travelling from Midlands and On Thursday we will be crossing South part if that makes sense

Another option from Pooley Bridge is to drive down the Eastetn side of the lake to Howtown , park by the lovely little St Peter’s church in Martindale for the lovely and short walk to the top of Hallin Fell for beautiful views all round. Then pop into the tiny tiny bar at the Howtown Hotel for a drink (check times). Or you can get off the steamer at Howtown for the longer walk up Hallin Fell, or a lakeside walk to Silver Bay, and a stop off at the Howtown Hotel.

If doing a short walk from Glenridding I would suggest Keldas View and Lanty’s Tarn (leaflets available from the info centre in the village car park) , pretty walk, excellent views.

Glenridding Mini Market and R&R Corner Store both v good for picnic pies etc. A few cafes in Glenridding and a pub, the Travellers Rest up the hill .

The LD doesn’t really do villages with good shops and cafes, except for the main centres.

We love Ullswater, went to Pooley bridge last week, ferry to Glenridding (1 hour), short walk (just over an hour) then lunch in Helvellyn Country Kitchen (great food) and boat back to Pooley bridge for an ice cream.The aira force waterfalls are lovely if you want a longer walk, but you need to get your timings right for the shuttle.

We also visited Buttermere for the first time last week, was lovely (although we got pretty wet!) but it is a tricky drive (either lots of single track or over Honister pass) and takes quite a while due to slow roads.

As others have said, Grasmere is lovely but I’d avoid Windermere/ambleside as v busy.

As others have said, the distances are fairly big and the roads can be slow. Stick with the north and leave the south for another time. You won't be crossing the south of the Lakes if you're coming up the M6, you'll be by-passing it. Just leave the M6 at junction 40 for Penrith/Keswick.

The alternative is to leave at junction 36 and drive through Windermere, Ambleside, Grasmere but that road is very busy in the summer and you're likely to get stuck in traffic so I wouldn't bother given how little time you've got.

I've never seen the point of Penrith and Pooley Bridge TBH.
They are further from the lakes than you might think.
If you're only going for a couple of days I would maybe stay somewhere like Ambleside or Kendal.

Yes I know they are tourist hot spots, but they're more central than Penrith.

We love Brotherswater for an easy walk.
Aira force waterfalls are close to Penrith.

Caveat, haven't been to Penrith since DGP died. We always went to The George Hotel for every family celebration.
Then we'd go to Troutbeck and Conistion Water to see other family and it always seemed such a long trek, particularly in the summer.

Always loved the fact that my Dads cousin lived in Coniston Hall and used to regale us with stories of the Bluebird and his recollections of the day. Though shamefully have never visited the bluebird museum.
Aira

We have booked a Hilltop House on Thursday morning, then Hawkshead village to visit old Grammar School. Then we will head to Grasmere which is showing around 30 minutes on the map. I think thus will be enough for the first day and next day Ullswater area

If you are going to Hilltop (which is well worth a visit IMO), you could make a day of it by visiting Hawkshead - some nice shops and cafes and the NT Beatrix Potter gallery, Tarn Hows - a lovely, very easy walk or you can extend it and visit Monk Coniston and there are some waterfalls nearby too. This area isn't really near Penrith though.
Grasmere sounds like it would fit the bill if you want to base yourself somewhere with shops and cafes, there is Dove Cottage there too if you fancy some history.

All places I have looked since far are absolutely beautiful so I find it really hard to pick the locations.

The point of Pooley Bridge is to get the steamer the full length of Ullswater with views to the big fells, to Glenridding which is, after all, at the foot of Helvellyn. I wouldn't suggest Pooley Bridge as a destination in its own right.

The point of Penrith is that it often has much cheaper accommodation than the tourist-heavy places within the National Park. It also has the Penrith Toffee Shop.