The Lake District is undoubtedly a stunner to look at but it’s also a great big adventure playground. Which is excellent news for families with hard-to-please children. Apart from the obvious fell-walking – Cat Bells, Gummer’s How and Latrigg are good for little legs or first-timers – there are watery activities and mountain biking plus gorge scrambling and rock-climbing for the more adventurous.
Gentler, but equally diverting activities, include lake cruises, steam train rides and quirky attractions such as Keswick’s Pencil Museum and the World of Beatrix Potter.
Then all you need is a hotel that entertains families, too. Some have decent-sized pools and children’s play areas, or maybe an outdoor trail. Others offer kayaking lessons and off-road driving, and at least one has a Beatrix Potter-themed afternoon tea. Enticing children’s menus (not just fish fingers) can be found as well as bedrooms with fun bunk beds in family rooms, plus welcome children’s treats.
The best family-friendly hotels in the Lake District
At a glance
1. The Swan Hotel and Spa, Newby Bridge
As soon as you step inside, you know this is going to be a fun hotel with its bold-patterned wallpapers, sofas and armchairs in hot pinks and oranges, a swimming pool behind reception, and a lilac-coloured pool table in the children’s play-room. Bedrooms, too, are similarly colourful. The whitewashed, 17th-century former coaching inn beside a stone-arched bridge near the southern end of Windermere has been considerably extended but without losing its charm. You can still sit on the terrace overlooking the river to take afternoon tea, or enjoy a drink in its stone-flagged bar.
For children, there’s an indoor playroom with games and toys, plus an outdoor adventure playground; for grown-ups there’s an extensive indoor-outdoor spa. The Lakeside and Haverthwaite Steam Railway, plus landing stage for Windermere cruises, is a five-minute walk. Children’s welcome packs include night-time milk and cookies.
2. Armathwaite Hall Hotel and Spa, Bassenthwaite
For families, the big pull of this…
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