Heritage Britain

The county of Cumbria, England



Holker Hall, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria

Cumbria and the Lake District is situated just south of the Scottish Borders with Northumberland and Durham to the east and Yorkshire to the south. Wordsworth and the Lake Land Poets immortalised the views of the Lake District. Each one of the lakes clustered around the rugged heights of the fells is different. From placid Buttermere to lively Windermere, the longest of Lakes and the largest in England, surrounded by forested peaks and ablaze with colour in the autumn. Follow narrow roads edged with dry stone walls to pretty villages, like tiny Sawrey once home to Beatrix Potter, the children’s author whose life and favourite characters are cleverly animated at The World of Beatrix Potter Gallery in Hawkshead. Further to the north is Carlisle, once described as the finest Roman city in England, lying close to the Scottish border and for long centuries riven by battles and border skirmishes. The Roman Emperor Hadrian ordered a great wall, three meters thick and six meters high, to be built right across England’s North Country to keep out Scotland’s unruly Celts. Much of Hadrian's Wall and forts, like Birdoswald built in AD122 and Housesteads, can be seen today if you follow the wall from Carlisle or from Newcastle lying on the opposite coast. Cumbria has a myriad of historic houses and heritage sites to discover including Holker Hall (Grange-over-Sands),Hutton-in-the-Forest (Penrith), Muncaster Castle (Ravenglass), Abbot Hall Art Gallery (Kendal), Blackwell (Bowness 0n Windermere), Wordsworth's House (Cockermouth) and Rydal Mount (Ambleside) to mention just a few.

Where to stay and things to do in Cumbria

Hotels | Bed and Breakfast | Pubs and Inns | Self Catering | Places to Visit | Antiques and Collectables | Museums and Art Galleries | Gardens | Castles | Cathedrals | Weddings and Honeymoons | Conferences, Seminars and Corporate Events | Abbeys and Priories | Restaurants | Tourist Information Centres | Cumbria Towns | Historic Cumbria

Selected Cumbria hotels - Please Refresh for another random Hotel list

Highfield Hotel, Keswick
Whitewater Hotel, Newby Bridge
Armathwaite Hall Hotel, Keswick
The Swinside Inn, Keswick
Rampsbeck Country House Hotel, Penrith
Beech Hill Hotel, Windermere
New House Farm, Cockermouth
George Hotel (Keswick)
Restaurant & Bar
, Keswick
Lovelady Shield Country House Hotel, Alston
Townend
NATIONAL TRUST
, Windermere

Click for More hotels in Cumbria

Click For List of all UK Counties

Explore Cumbria Towns

Alston | Alston, Cumbria | Ambleside | Ambleside, Cumbria | Appleby | Appleby-in-Westmoreland | Appleby-in-Westmorland | Armathwaite | Ashbourne | Askham | Barbon | Barrow-in-Furness | Bassenthwaite | Beetham | Boot | Borrowdale | Bouth | Bowness on Windermere | Bowness-on-Windermere | Bowness-on-Windermere | Braithwaite | Brampton | Brigsteer | Brough | Broughton | Broughton-in-Furness | Buttermere | Caldbeck | Carlisle | Cartmel | Castle Carrock | Catlowdy | Cleator | Cockermouth | Coniston | Crook | Crosthwaite | Dalton-In-Furness | Darley Abbey | Dent | Dockray | Dubwath | Elterwater | Eskdale | Eskdale Green | Faugh | Garrigill | Glenridding | Grange Over Sands | Grange-over-Sands | Grasmere | Grassmere | Great Langdale | Grizedale | Havernthwaite | Hawkshead | Heversham | Holmrook | Howtown | Ireby | Kendal | Keswick | Kirby Lonsdale | Kirby Stephen | Kirby Steven | Kirkby Antiques | Kirkby Lonsdale | Kirkby Stephen | Legburthwaite | Little Langdale | Low Newton | Loweswater | Melmerby | Millom | Millom, Cumbria | Milnthorpe | Mungrisdale | Near Penrith | Near Sawrey | Nether Wasdale | Newby Bridge | Nr Penrith | Outgate | Penrith | Pooley Bridge | Ravenglass | Ravenglass, Cumbria | Ravenstonedale | Roland | Sawrey | Seascale | Seathwaite | Sedbergh | Shap | Tebay | Temple Sowerby | Troutbeck | Troutebeck | Ulverson | Ulverston | Watermillock | Whitehaven | Wigton | Windermere | Workington | Workington (near) | Yanwath |

Cumbria Tourist Information Centres

Alston Tourist Information Centre
Town Hall,
Front St,
CA9 3RF
Tel: +44 (0) 1434 382244
email: click here

Ambleside Tourist Information Centre
Central Buildings,
Market Cross,
LA22 9BT
Tel: +44 (0) 15394 32582
email: click here

Appleby Tourist Information Centre
Moot Hall,
Boroughgate,
CA16 6XE
Tel: +44 (0) 17683 51177
email: click here

Barrow-in-Furness Tourist Information Centre
Forum 28,
Duke St,
LA14 1HU
Tel: +44 (0) 1229 894784
email: click here

Bowness Tourist Information Centre
Glebe Rd,
LA23 3HJ
Tel: +44 (0) 15394 42895
email: click here

Brampton Tourist Information Centre
Moot Hall,
Market Place,
CA8 1RW
Tel: +44 (0) 16977 3433

Broughton-in-Furness Tourist Information Centre
Town Hall,
The Square.
LA20 6JF
Tel: +44 (0) 1229 716115
email: click here

Carlisle Tourist Information Centre
Old Town Hall,
CA3 8JE
Tel: +44 (0) 1228 625600
email: click here

Cockermouth Tourist Information Centre
Town Hall,
Market St,
CA13 9NP
Tel: +44 (0) 1900 822634
email: click here

Coniston Tourist Information Centre
Ruskin Ave,
LA21 8EH
Tel: +44 (0) 15394 41533
email: click here

Grange-over-Sands Tourist Information Centre
Victoria Hall,
Main St,
LA11 6DP
Tel: +44 (0) 15395 34026
email: click here

Grasmere Tourist Information Centre
Red Bank Rd,
LA22 9SW
Tel: +44 (0) 15394 35245
email: click here

Hawkshead Tourist Information Centre
Main Street,
Hawkshead,
LA22 ONS
Tel: +44 (0) 15394 36946
email: click here

Kendal Tourist Information Centre
Town Hall,
Highgate,
LA9 4DL
Tel: +44 (0) 1539 725758
email: click here

Keswick Tourist Information Centre
Moot Hall,
Market Sq,
CA12 5JR
Tel: +44 (0) 17687 72645
email: click here

Kirkby Lonsdale Tourist Information Centre
24 Main St,
LA6 2AE
Tel: +44 (0) 15242 71437
email: click here

Kirkby Stephen Tourist Information Centre
Market St,
CA17 4QN
Tel: +44 (0) 17683 71199
email: click here

Penrith Tourist Information Centre
Penrith Museum,
Middlegate,
CA11 7PT
Tel: +44 (0) 1768 867466
email: click here

Pooley Bridge Tourist Information Centre
The Square,
CA10 2NW
Tel: +44 (0) 17684 86530
email: click here

Ravenglass Tourist Information Centre
R and ER Railway Station,
CA18 1SW
Tel: +44 (0) 1229 717278

Sedbergh Tourist Information Centre
72 Main St,
LA10 5AD
Tel: +44 (0) 15396 20125
email: click here

Ullswater Tourist Information Centre
Main Car Park,
Glenridding,
CA11 0PA
Tel: +44 (0) 17684 82414

Ulverston Tourist Information Centre
Coronation Hall,
County Sq,
LA12 7LZ
Tel: +44 (0) 1229 587120
email: click here

Whitehaven Tourist Information Centre
Market Hall,
Market Place,
CA28 7JG
Tel: +44 (0) 1946 852939
email: click here

Windermere Tourist Information Centre
Victoria St,
LA23 1AD
Tel: +44 (0) 15394 46499
email: click here

Tourist Information Centre

Tel: +44 (0)

Famous people born, lived or buried in Cumbria

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
Perhaps the most famous son of Cumbria. Born in Cockermouth, he spent his youth at Wordsworth House and later moved with his sister Dorothy to Dove Cottage near Grasmere, where he entertained many literary visitors, such as Samuel Coleridge, Sir Walter Scott and Thomas de Quincey. Their final home was Rydal Mount near Ambleside, near to which is Dora's field, named after his daughter. All of these houses are open to the public

Beatrix Potter
Creator and illustrator of Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin and Mrs Tiggy Winkle also gained her inspiration from the Lake District. She lived for several years at Hill Top Farm in the village of Near Sawrey. A selection of her original illustrations can be viewed at the Beatrix Potter Gallery in Hawkshead. At The World of Beatrix Potter, Bowness-on-Windermere, the tales are brought alive with the use of modern technology.

Arthur Ransome
Author of a series of children's books, wrote Swallows and Amazons when he was staying at the Newby Bridge Hotel, near the shores of Lake Windermere Peel Island on Coniston Water features as Wild Cat Island in Swallows and Amazons.

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