A Weekend in the Lake District
The Lake District is one of the most beautiful, peaceful parts of the UK, with acres and acres of countryside and mountains around it waiting to be explored.
If you’re thinking about or planning a visit to the Lake District National Park for a weekend, Ambleside is a great place to start. We stayed at Rydal Hall Sheppard’s Huts home to the picture perfect Rydal Beck Waterfall which has been circulating on Instagram Reels. There was a collection of five huts in total sitting quietly against the backdrop of misty mountains. Each hut had its own log burner and small kitchen with a gas stove, cooking and washing equipment, but don’t have any grand ideas of cooking up anything huge as the biggest saucepan just about fit a tin of chill con carne.
We managed to cook all our breakfast meals in the hut (sausages and bacon rolls) and do the odd basic dinner which was fine for a weekend (Friday to Monday) stay. If choosing The Herdwick Huts for a longer stay I would suggest some larger camping equipment for cooking. A family staying the same time as John and myself had even brought an extra tent for more sleeping and cooking space, which is a great idea for longer stays.
Rydal Hall itself is a hotel if you would prefer a different type of stay, its also home to a camping site and eco pods. The Herdwick Huts shares facilities with the campsite and eco pods but also has private access to closer toilets all in great condition. The hut itself was very comfortable and cosy; there is no electricity so great if you want a peaceful break away from technology, which for me was bliss. Four out of five huts are dog friendly on the condition they don’t get on the bed, Nala was not pleased about this obviously but we made sure we had her calming bed from home.
Before we made the trip I had seen multiple instagram reels showing various places around the Lake District, places I didn’t even knew existed. First stop was Kirkstone Pass which was on route to Aria Force Waterfall located near Ullswater. We unknowingly took a road called The Struggle when leaving Ambleside to get to Kirkstone Pass and it did not disappoint it was definitely a struggle. John took this road on in second gear most of the time as the bends were tight, it was single track and all up hill we even had to dodge some rouge sheep but it was worth it for the spectacular views so obviously we had to pull over for a cheeky drone shot. As we reached Kirkstone Pass the clouds were rolling in as you can expect for the UK in July, but it made everything look like you had just walked into one of the Lord of the Rings films.
Next stop Aria Force Waterfall when we arrived it was busy but was able to park up, its owned by The National Trust so of course you had to pay for parking but entry was free. It was a relatively short walk up hill to the waterfall but being the start of the summer holidays everyone had, had the same idea as us so it was a bit of a wait around to get that insta worthy shot, as for Nala she was living her best life running around trying to get into the water. After we took a quick drive the Ullswater Lake where we relaxed and watched everyone around us take part in some form or water sport. Nala had a great swim and before we knew it we were ready for dinner. As it was our anniversary I had booked a table at The Queens Head Hotel and Restaurant in Troutbeck not far from where we were. They are dog friendly and the food was outstanding, all the staff were friendly and Nala got plenty of treats and attention from everyone. By the time we got back to huts and put our log burner on we passed out by 8:30pm.
Our next full day started with Honisters Pass another road I had seen on instagram reels. This pass is on the B5289 between Keswick and Cockermouth and is a great route to get to Moss Force Waterfall and Buttermere Lake. At this point of the weekend break I realised how nice it was not to be dragging around three kids and imagined the difficulty of having to dress, feed and get them into a car to then make them walk around and hear the dreaded call of ‘I’m BORED’ or ‘I’m HUNGRY’. It was great to be able to just get up, eat and get going.
We meandered through Honisters Pass and turned onto another single-track road up to Moss Force Waterfall. We took the short walk up to as far as we could go and took in the view of the valley below while Nala enjoyed bouncing in and out of the water.
Next stop Buttermere Lake where I completed my first wild swim which I highly recommend, again you had to pay for parking in which then there was a short walk to the lake. Even though it was a Sunday it was very busy with plenty of people wanting to appreciate the lakes. As we walked round the lake we finally found an empty spot to enjoy the views and I could pluck up the courage to get in. It was the end of July and the weather was a pleasant 16 degrees but I was ready for the freezing cold of the lake, I thought I would only last a couple of minutes long enough for a decent drone video but surprisingly it wasn’t that bad and I even managed to get John in too. It felt so revitalising and the stress of the world just seemed to disappear. With that another day was ending so we finished it with wine and an open fire next to our hut.
Goodbye Lake District, and just like that it was our last day we really didn’t want to leave. We packed up early so we could visit Rydal Cave that was a two-minute drive down the road and something else I had seen on instagram. We parked up and took a gentle stroll around Rydal Water to find the cave when we did we were not disappointed. We skipped across the stepping-stones deep into the cave, the pool had small fish in which seemed to bamboozle Nala. Unfortunately we had to get back and end our trip to the Lake District, it was truly a relaxing break from everything back home and I was able to experience so many new things. I will no doubt be back again hopefully with a paddleboard and more time.
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