Continuing on our UK road trip after a lovely stay in the Peak District, we made our way north to another scenic favourite, the Lake District. A childhood favourite, I have fond memories around the Lakes of climbing Haystacks, admiring the views at Friar’s Crag on Derwent Water, playing pitch and putt in Keswick and watching gallons of water tumble town over Aira Force Waterfall. More recently we’ve been up to the Lakes for a wedding of two close friends in a giant teepee on Ullswater. But one place I’ve had little experience of in the Lake District is Lake Windermere. For this part of our stay, we were invited to 4* Lakeside Hotel and Spa at the south end of the Lake.
Lakeside Hotel is perched at the south end of Lake Windermere with impressive views across the lake. We were greeted with a lovely warm welcome before being shown around the hotel and up to our room, which overlooked the lake itself. The room was lovely and spacious and the seating by the window made for a great place to sit to enjoy the view. Little details such as toiletries from The White Company, fluffy bath robes and reading about the lake helped to make the room that extra bit special.
The room was lovely and spacious and the seating by the window made for a great place to sit to enjoy the view. Little details such as toiletries from The White Company, fluffy bath robes and reading about the lake helped to make the room that extra bit special.
The hotel boasts an impressive conservatory, which is perfect for sitting out with a drink, afternoon tea, or a light lunch and enjoying the scenic views. There’s also an amazing restaurant, which we visited for dinner on our first night. Dressed up in royal red with dark wood panels, the restaurant feels very luxury – perfect for a special occasion. We enjoyed 3 courses of lovely food, from cheese souffle and baked cod starters to lamb shoulder mains with delicious dauphinoise, all finished off with a salted caramel and chocolate dessert and a tipple of dessert wine!
We enjoyed 3 courses of lovely food, from cheese souffle and baked cod starters to lamb shoulder mains with delicious dauphinoise, all finished off with a salted caramel and chocolate dessert and a tipple of dessert wine!
At the back of the hotel there is the Aveda spa with lovely pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam rooms, so of course, we had to take a dip whilst we were there before taking a stroll along the lake itself.
If the weather had been slightly nicer, we might even have considered taking the hotel’s rowing boat out for a spin on the Lake, but we didn’t much like the thought of getting drenched in the process!
Just a stone’s throw away from Lakeside hotel, you can take a ride on a steamer boat up the Lake with Windermere Lake Cruises, stopping off at the towns of Bowness and Ambleside.
Despite the wet weather, it was lovely to be out on the water admiring the beauty of this natural region. The steam cruise was commentated to help you point out buildings of great interest and to find out more about the history of the lake.
We went up to Bowness, where we enjoyed a lovely lunch (and a couple of G&T’s) and some shopping, before heading back to Lakeside Hotel.
Lakeside is such a beautiful hotel to admire from the outside and you can see why so many people choose to get married here, particularly in this beautiful English region. The hotel has its own separate conference/function house across the road, which I’m sure has been used for many memorable occasions.
Perhaps my favourite thing about the hotel though had to be the light and bright conservatory, which was simply the perfect place to sit and relax. One of the evenings we were at Lakeside there was a pianist playing, which made for great ambient music whilst enjoying a glass of wine.
If you’re ever up in the Lakes and need recommendations of a place to stay, try Lakeside, we had a lovely time!
Our stay at Lakeside hotel included a media discount, complimentary evening meal and press pass tickets to Windermere Lake Cruise. All opinions are my own. The image of the spa was provided by Lakeside.
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