Our easy-to-use website contains details and locations of places to visit around this area. Please select from:

	Places to Stay: Bed and Breakfast Hotels and Guest Houses Pubs with Accommodation Self Catering
	Places to Eat and Drink: Cafes, Coffee & Tea Shops Pubs serving Food Restaurants and Bistros
	Places of Interest: Places to Visit
	Gardens Centres: Garden Centres/Nurseries
	Specialist Shops: Antiques & Restoration Arts and Crafts Fashions Gifts Home and Garden Jewellery Food and Drink Shops

Orton

By far the best approach to Orton is along the B6260 from Appleby to Tebay. This scenic route climbs up onto the moors, passing Thunder Stone, some mighty limestone bluffs and the pavements of Great Asby Scar, the setting for BBC TV's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

A pretty village now, for centuries Orton was a market town of some consequence with a charter granted in the 13th century by Edward I and a licence to hold fairs accorded by the puritan Oliver Cromwell. Today, the only market is a farmer's market held on the second Saturday of every month. More than 40 local farmers, growers, producers and artisan craftsmen offer a tremendous variety of high quality and speciality local produce and crafts.

There are reminders of Orton's former importance in the noble church tower, completed in 1504; in the attractive proportions of Petty Hall, an Elizabethan house at the lower end of the village (a private residence), and in the grandeur of Orton Hall, built in 1662 and now converted into holiday apartments. Orton's most famous visitor was Bonnie Prince Charlie who stayed in the village on his way northwards after the crushing defeat of his troops at Derby.

Orton's former school now houses Kennedys Chocolates, a small enterprise producing handmade chocolates. There's a factory shop and a coffee house with viewing windows overlooking the production areas.

The village stands below Orton Scar, on which a beacon was lit to warn people to seek safety from advancing Scottish raiders. The village church, in common with many in the Eden Valley, has a massive 16th-century tower that was built for defensive purposes and was the place where the villagers sought shelter. Its features include an ancient oak parish chest and a stained glass window by Beatrice Whistler, wife of the American artist James McNeill Whistler.

From the church there's a pleasant walk of well under a mile to Keld, a tiny village of just 17 houses. So quiet today, in medieval times Keld was a busy little place servicing the monks of Shap Abbey nearby. It was the monks who built the village's oldest building, the early-16th-century Keld Chapel (National Trust).