Easy walks near Bowness, Ambleside or Grasmere with a toddler in the carrier/pram? ⛰️

[HopefulWalker]

Hi all, we will be staying in Bowness in a couple of weeks and we would like to do some easy walks with a just turned 2-year-old! Ones that would be suitable for DH to carry DD in the back carrier, or even suitable for a pram?

We could consider setting off from around the Lake, or Ambleside or Grasmere.

thank you!

Hopeful bump! 😊

You can check out the Miles without Stiles routes on the Lake District National Park website as a starting point.

From Bowness a fun trip would be to take the ferry across the lake as foot passengers and walk up the lake shore path on the west side of Windermere.

From memory, both Grasmere itself and Rydal Water have easy, flat walks around the lake. They do take an hour or two though! Rydal has the caves, which are fun, and a shallow section on the far side where a supervised toddler could paddle.
But I remember the first time I went up Helm Crag (Lion and the Lamb) as a teenager, feeling really proud of doing a ‘proper‘ fell until I was overtaken by an entire family, including toddlers and pensioners, who clearly thought it was nowt but a little stroll. So the definition of ‘easy walk’ might be a bit different jn the Lakes 😁.

Not pushchair friendly, but would probably work with a backpack, the walk up to Rydal cave from White Moss carpark (just off the A591 between Rydal Water and Grasmere) is a lovely short walk. There are quite a few footpaths accessible from there in fact.
I agree with the suggestion of walking along the Western side of Windermere too. Wray Castle is great for little ones with lovely grounds and you can walk along the lakeshore from there.
If you're willing to drive a bit further there are some nice forest paths in both Grizedale and Whinlatter forests. It's ages since I have been to Grizedale but I go to Whinlatter often and it has some child orientated trails, a nice play area and a big Gruffalo statue - I'd imagine there's something similar at Grizedale.

Thank you all, I’m off to Google! I hadn’t heard of miles without stiles before, sounds good!

Orrest Head is a lovely little hill with gruffalo sculptures. Can be done with pram or carrier.

Buttermere is quite an easy walk and it's beautiful.

ETA Not pushchair friendly though.

But I remember the first time I went up Helm Crag (Lion and the Lamb) as a teenager, feeling really proud of doing a ‘proper‘ fell until I was overtaken by an entire family, including toddlers and pensioners, who clearly thought it was nowt but a little stroll. So the definition of ‘easy walk’ might be a bit different jn the Lakes

indeed. Friends of mine took their daughter up various big fells (Skiddaw was the main one I think) in a back carrier from the age of about one. But they were fit - if you regularly walk the fells you do have a different perception of easy.

Not for a pram, but a reasonably level walk is along the Langstrath valley in Borrowdale. Borrowdale is beautiful and that walk could be done by people not experienced in walking with a back carrier.

But when I was there for a swim a couple of weeks ago it was overrun by nasty yahoos, lighting fires on the turf and leaving tents littered everywhere. Wild camping is allowed but you have to strike camp at sunrise. I reported it all to the Park rangers so hopefully they’ve been cleared out and it’s peaceful again. it’s awful how a group of low-rent types can spoil even the most beautiful places.

This is probably doable with a carrier rather than a pushchair:

Elterwater to Skelwith Bridge and back, or vice versa, is lovely by the river, and only a few miles. There's somewhere to get a coffee at either end too!!

Tarn Hows is a lovely walk and relatively flat. You can venture off to one side and follow the stream, but the walk around the tarn is very doable with young children. There's an NT car park but it fills up quite quickly.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/lake-district/tarn-hows-and-coniston

I second Tarn Hows. It's a perfect walk for young children and there are lovely views.

From Ambleside you can walk up to the waterfalls relatively easily. There's a circular walk, that's about 2 miles, you can continue to do from there if you wish. It's not particularly tricky but there are a couple of styles. Alternatively, once you've seen the waterfalls you can walk back to the village.

when our DD was little we had some good books of walks with children, one was called Wild Walks - don’t know if that’s still in print but there are doubtless similar nowadays. One of the walks I remember from that was Orrest Head, another was a nice circle including Wray Castle and the west shore of Windermere. Not sure but I think we got over there on the ferry which is fun. I found a route which may be the same thing which says it’s child friendly though it’s quite short.

https://www.alltrails.com/en-gb/trail/england/cumbria/wray-castle-circular

The coffin route out of Ambleside. You’ll need a carrier bit not difficult and there’s a cafe at the end near St Oswald church I recall.