Keswick is a market town of some 5000 inhabitants, and is the favourite centre for Lakeland climbers and serious fell walkers. Situated between the huge bulk of Skiddaw and the gentle beauty of Derwentwater, this pretty market town offer a wide range of attractions for visitors, from shops and restaurants to museums with a difference, and boating trips around lake Derwentwater.

Lying just outside the boundary of the Lake District National Park, Cockermouth is an attractive market town not overwhelmed by the tourist atmosphere of Keswick and Ambleside. Today's visitors are attracted by the town's calm, its nearness to some of the more peaceful lakes and mountains, and the fact that Dorothy and William Wordsworth were born here. The large Georgian house in the Main Street where they were born, is now in the care of the National Trust.

Whinlatter Forest is Englands only mountain forest. There is a Visitor Centre, with a book and gift shop, a restaurant, and a children's adventure play area. A forest guide shows the fourteen miles of road suitable for walkers and cyclists, as well as many other paths for walkers. There are some spectacular views across the fells and forests of Northern Lakeland.

The ospreys' return to the Lakes was the culmination of several years of hard work to encourage ospreys to stay. Come to Dood Wood and visit the viewing platform, to see the osprey's nest on the far side of Bassenthwaite Lake. There is an information centre, and CCTV viewing of the nest site, at the Forestry Commission Visitor Centre in Whinlatter Forest.

Mirehouse is a remarkable historic house and gardens facing Bassenthwaite Lake, with Dodd Wood and Skiddaw at the rear. The gardens contain adventure playgrounds, varied sheltered gardens to amble around, and lakeside walks through woods and parks. The House contains a wide range of literary and artistic connections, including portraits and manuscripts of three poet laureates - Southey, Wordsworth and Tennyson - all friends of the Speddings in the 19th century.

The Vale of Lorton is a sequence of valleys leading from Cockermouth towards Keswick. In one of the lushest, prettiest parts of the Northern Lakes, the valley contains the lakes Loweswater, Crummock Water and Buttermere. At the end of the valley you can get to Keswick via Honister Pass and Borrowdale. There are many excellent walks in this area, including to the waterfall at Scale Force.

The area has many literary connections, including William wordsworth, Beatrix Potter, John Ruskin and Hugh Walpole. Mirehouse has connnections with Southey, Wordsworth and Tennyson.

William Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth, and lived for most of his life in nearby Grasmere. Three of his homes are open to the public. Several of Beatrix Potter's books were written while she was living in Keswick.

For more information about these and other places of interest in the area, see the 'Links' page.