Lakeside, The Lake District

In November we headed to The Lake District to celebrate John’s birthday. After researching prices in Windermere we decided to stay outside the tourist hotspot where prices are a little friendlier! We opted for Lakeside, a tiny village at the South end of Lake Windermere and stayed at Landing Cottage Guest House, a steal at £75 for the night. The main things that attracted us to the area were the Lakes Aquarium and the fact we could use the cruise boats to visit Bowness on Windermere and we weren’t disappointed.

After getting a little bit lost trying to find the B&B (thank goodness for GPS coordinates!) we dropped our bags off and headed out to find some lunch. On the shores of Windermere we found Lakeside Hotel. Lakeside Hotel is a beautiful 4 star hotel and spa that would be a wonderful place for a relaxing retreat if you had the spare pennies. Knowing the restaurant would be pricey we headed to the bar where we chose our sandwiches and settled down next to the open fire. The food was lovely but the price reflected our surroundings and the bill gave us a bit of a shock!

Still a little dazed after paying over £8 for a small glass of wine we made our way to the Lakes Aquarium. The aquarium is one of the nicest I’ve visited recently and features much more than marine animals. Tickets are just £5.95 if you buy in advance online or a couple of pounds extra if you buy on the day.

We wondered around looking at the fish, reptiles and mammals.

And we spotted an unexpected visitor who was also staying at Lakeside for the weekend!

The next day we applied for a local resident card with Windermere Lake Cruises which gives the local community half price fares during the winter season and 20% off the rest of the time. All you need is a bill with your home address on it and a LA or CA postcode. We applied in person at the ticket office but you can apply by post. Armed with our discount cards we bought a couple of very cheap return tickets from Lakeside to Bowness.