During the summer months the Lake District comes into its own. There’s nothing quite like a visit to a lake when the weather warms up, while the national park’s impressive fells look even better against bright blue cloudless skies.
The vast expanses of Windermere and Ullswater probably spring to mind first, yet the smaller lakes are definitely worth visiting too. Situated in the heart of the Lake District is the small but perfectly formed Grasmere Water, along with a village of the same name.
Grasmere village itself is one of the prettiest locations in the Lake District. It’s full of slate-coloured coloured cottages, tea rooms and shops and its winding roads are just asking to be explored.
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It’s home to Sarah Nelson’s Gingerbread Shop, which attracts visitors from around the world. The shop also has links to one of the village’s most famous names - it occupies a former school where the poet William Wordsworth, his sister Dorothy and his wife Mary all taught.
Wordsworth moved to the village in 1799 and lived in Dove Cottage until 1808 - today it’s a museum dedicated to the poet. He later moved to Allan Bank before settling in Rydal Mount. Both Wordsworth, who died in 1850, and his wife Mary are buried in St Oswald’s Church in the village.
A patch of land next to the church has been transformed into the Wordsworth Daffodil Garden, which is a lovely peaceful spot. The path which weaves through is made up of donated stones, featuring the names of those who sponsored them.
A short walk from the village will take you down to the lake which is nestled among the fells. It’s more tranquil than some of the larger lakes as you won’t find any motorboats on the water, and at three and a half miles in circumference, you can easily walk around the lake in an afternoon.
In the middle is a tiny island which Wordsworth and his sister used to picnic on. Today it’s privately owned so you can’t visit it, but it’s still nice to imagine what it would have been like on a summer’s day.
There’s rowing boats you can hire at Faeryland, situated in a bay on the northern edge of the lake. Grasmere is connected to Rydal Water, a similar sized-lake to the east. For a more challenging walk you can follow a route around the two lakes.
Grasmere is approximately a two and a half hour drive from Manchester. Alternatively you can catch the train to Windermere from Manchester Piccadilly followed by a bus to Grasmere, which takes around three hours in total.
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