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

Wasdale

To the northeast of Ravenglass runs Wasdale, the wildest of the Lake District valleys but easily accessible by road. The road leads to Wast Water, which is just 3 miles long but is the deepest lake in England. The southern shores are dominated by huge screes some 2,000 feet high that plunge abruptly into the lake; they provide an awesome backdrop to this tranquil stretch of water. A lake less like Windermere would be hard to find, as there are no motorboats ploughing their way up and down the lake. This is very much the country of walkers and climbers, and from here there are many footpaths up to some of the best fells in Cumbria. From here you can find many walking tour groups and guides to help less experienced walkers find their way around the massive expanses of breath-taking scenery. And, with walkers feet in mind, there is the Wasdale Sock Company which, among their range of comfy socks, sells the famous Wasdale Walker sock.

Wasdale Head, just to the north of the lake, is a small, close-knit community with a far-famed Inn that has provided a welcome refuge for walkers and climbers since the mid-1800s who have been out discovering Wasdale and the lake. Wasdale Church is claimed to be the smallest in England, built in the 14th century, it is hidden away amidst a tiny copse of evergreen trees. Local legend suggests that the roof beams came from a Viking ship and it is certainly true that until late Victorian times, the church had only an earth floor and few seats.

As well as the deepest lake and the smallest church, Wasdale also boasts the highest mountain, Scafell Pike (3,205 feet) – and the world’s biggest liars. This latter claim goes back to the mid-1800s when Will Ritson, ‘a reet good fibber’, was the publican at the inn. Will enthralled his patrons with tall stories of how he had crossed foxes with eagles to produce flying foxes and had grown turnips so large he could hollow them out to make a shed. In the same spirit, the ‘World’s Biggest Liar’ Competition takes place every November, usually at the Bridge Inn at Santon Bridge, when contestants from all over the country vie in telling the most enormous porkies.

Sca Fell, about a mile away, is ‘only’ 3,162 feet, though getting from one to the other by a direct route isn’t straightforward. The easiest routes are either via Lord’s Rake on the Wasdale side or by descending and then re-ascending via Foxes Tarn on the Eskdale side.

A short drive outside of Wasdale is Woodhow farm, a traditional working farm in 158 acres of land, which is home to the Cumbrian Goat Experience. Here you can find many rare and native goat breeds (including cashmere goats – the fibre of their coats recognised as the height of comfort and luxury), enjoy their farm shop and even stay in one of their holiday cottages. It is said that goat milk is a healthy and tasty alternative to cow’s milk, particularly for those with cow’s milk intolerances.