Holiday Cottages In Cumbria

Cumbria has over 5,000 self-catering cottages on selfcatering.co.uk, from fellside boltholes above Keswick to lakeside houses on Windermere. The county wraps the whole of the Lake District National Park, England's highest ground and deepest lakes, and more than 3,300 of those cottages take dogs while over 800 have a hot tub.

Best areas and towns in Cumbria

Almost all of Cumbria's cottages sit inside the Lake District National Park, with the biggest clusters around the central lakes and the northern fells. The two busiest bases are the Keswick area in the north and the Windermere and Ambleside corner in the south, with quieter villages and market towns spread between them.

• Keswick: the main northern-lakes town, set between Derwentwater and the Skiddaw fells
• Ambleside and Grasmere: walking towns at the head of Windermere, Grasmere long tied to Wordsworth
• Windermere and Bowness-on-Windermere: the lake-steamer pair on England's largest lake, with Troutbeck Bridge just to the north
• Hawkshead: a car-free village of whitewashed cottages between Windermere and Coniston
• Coniston: a former mining village under the Old Man, on its own quiet lake
• Braithwaite, Threlkeld and Bassenthwaite: small fell villages ringing Keswick, handy for the high tops
• Cartmel: a priory village in the southern Furness corner, known for its racecourse and sticky toffee pudding
• Cockermouth: a Georgian market town on the north-west edge, Wordsworth's birthplace

For a town base with services, Kendal, Penrith and Ulverston sit just outside or on the fringe of the park and make an easy run to the central lakes.

The Cumbria coast and its beaches

Cumbria is best known for its fells, but it also has a long, little-developed coast facing the Irish Sea and the Solway Firth. Haverigg Beach held a Blue Flag in 2025, the one flagged beach in the county. The cliffs and lighthouse at St Bees mark the start of the coast-to-coast walk, while the old harbour towns of Whitehaven, Maryport and Silloth string along the Solway shore. Long, quiet sands at Silecroft, Seascale and Allonby look back at the western fells, and the dunes at Drigg and Ravenglass sit beside the estuary where three rivers meet the sea.

Things to do in Cumbria

The Lake District National Park is the obvious draw, with sixteen lakes, the high passes and walks for every level from lakeshore strolls to Scafell Pike. Above Keswick, Castlerigg Stone Circle sits in a ring of fells, and Brockhole on Windermere is the park's lakeside visitor centre. History runs deep here too: Hadrian's Wall crosses the north of the county, Carlisle Castle has guarded the border city for nine centuries, and Lowther Castle & Gardens near Penrith opens its ruined halls and grounds. Families head for the Lakes Aquarium and the Lakeland Motor Museum in the south, and the National Trust manors at Sizergh near Kendal and Wray near Ambleside add gardens and parkland to a wet-weather day.

When to visit Cumbria

Summer brings the warmest fell-walking weather and the busiest lakes, and the central villages and car parks fill early through the school holidays. Late spring and September are the sweet spot, with long days, quieter paths and lower cottage rates. Autumn turns the woods around the lakes gold and is a fine time for low-level walks, while winter suits cosy cottages with a hot tub and a fire, and the high fells take on snow. Cumbria is wet country in any season, so pack for rain whenever you come.

Dog-friendly and hot-tub cottages in Cumbria

More than 3,300 of the cottages in Cumbria take dogs, and more than 800 have a hot tub. Browse the dog-friendly cottages or those with a hot tub to narrow your search.

Getting to Cumbria

Cumbria sits in the far north-west of England, roughly five to six hours from London by road. The M6 runs up the eastern edge of the county, with junctions for Kendal, the central lakes and Penrith. The West Coast Main Line follows the same route, with fast trains from London Euston to Oxenholme, Penrith and Carlisle, and a branch line from Oxenholme to Windermere. The nearest large airports are Manchester to the south and Newcastle to the north-east.

Useful links

• Lake District National Park
• Visit Lake District
• Cumberland Council
• Westmorland and Furness Council

Cumbria is a large county in the far north-west of England, bordered by the Solway Firth and Scotland to the north, the Pennines and County Durham to the east, Lancashire to the south and the Irish Sea to the west. It is the third largest county in England, and the most mountainous, taking in the whole of the Lake District National Park at its heart.

The Lake District holds England's highest ground, including Scafell Pike, and its deepest and largest lakes, among them Windermere, Ullswater, Derwentwater and Wastwater, set among glaciated valleys and high fells. Around this upland core lie gentler landscapes: the Eden Valley and the western flank of the Pennines to the east, the limestone country of Furness and the Cartmel peninsula to the south, and a long, quiet coastline of dunes, estuaries and old harbour towns facing the Irish Sea and the Solway. The northern boundary is marked by part of Hadrian's Wall.

Carlisle, the only city, stands in the north near the Scottish border, with market towns such as Kendal, Penrith, Cockermouth and Ulverston serving the surrounding dales and coast. The region has a long and contested history as a frontier, fought over by Romans, Norse settlers and the kingdoms of England and Scotland, and the dialect and many place names still carry that Norse inheritance. Today the economy leans on farming, especially hill sheep, and on the tourism drawn by the lakes and fells that give Cumbria its character.