Lake Windermere
Lake Windermere is the largest natural lake in England, a ribbon of water approximately eighteen kilometres long set in the heart of the Lake District National Park between wooded hillsides and the lower fells that rise on both shores. It is the most visited lake in the district and the centre of much of the tourism that makes the Lake District the most visited national park in Britain, its combination of accessible scenery, historic associations, water sports facilities and the appealing towns and villages along its shores creating a destination of extraordinary popularity.
The western shore of the lake, wilder and more wooded than the eastern shore where the main towns of Windermere, Bowness and Ambleside are concentrated, provides some of the most beautiful lakeshore scenery in Cumbria and is accessible via the Windermere ferry that crosses between Bowness and Far Sawrey. The National Trust estate of Claife Heights above the western shore offers excellent walking with views across the lake to the Langdale Pikes and the central fells, and Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's farmhouse at Near Sawrey, is one of the most visited National Trust properties in England.
The lake has strong literary associations with the Romantic tradition. Wordsworth walked extensively in the surrounding countryside and the Lake District's scenery was the primary inspiration for his greatest poetry. John Ruskin lived at Brantwood above Coniston Water, within sight of Windermere's southern reaches, and Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons was inspired by the landscape of Windermere and Coniston, giving the lake a place in the imaginative geography of generations of children.
The Windermere Steamers, operating scheduled services on the lake since the Victorian period, provide a relaxing way to experience the changing character of the lake and connect the main lakeside villages without a car.