William Wordsworth’s most famous poem, Daffodils, recounts a time when he “wandered lonely as a cloud” in the Lake District. The line itself has been burnished into English poetic folklore but its solitary sentiment can be somewhat hard to reconcile with the modern-day reality.
While Wordsworth “saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils” on his meanderings, it is crowds of tourists who now constellate “beside the lake”. Indeed, with almost 18 million people visiting annually, the Lake District – which boasts a local population just shy of 40,000 – has a tourist-to-local ratio remarkably greater than that of Venice.
For many, the touristic swirl is all part of the experience. Personally, I would rather contend with hordes of holidaymakers during a city break; when in England’s most-scenic national park, I’m more of a “lonely cloud” kind of guy (and if you think otherwise, I’m sorry to say you’re just wrong). So my challenge was clear: I wanted to find a place to stay in the Lake District for me and my family this summer while avoiding the madness of crowds.
The areas you need to avoid
First, I needed to pin down a location. Those who have holidayed in the Lakes before will know that it is lakeside towns like Ambleside, Bowness-on-Windermere, Keswick and Grasmere (home to Wordsworth for much of his life) which disproportionately receive the highest number of tourists. Indeed, my guess is you will likely have stayed in or around one of these areas. You are far less likely to have stayed in or around Broughton Beck, the quaint village situated on Cumbria’s Furness peninsula, a smidgeon to the south of the Lake District’s official southern boundary. Now, I can already hear you screaming “well of course you avoided the crowds if you didn’t actually stay in the Lakes!”. Strictly speaking you are right – but what’s approximately 0.8 miles between friends?
Where to go instead
The distinction certainly felt academic as we neared Broughton Beck. True, you won’t find the rugged peaks of Borrowdale or the Langdale Valley here, but my goodness the surrounding fells are painfully picturesque. So picturesque that I felt a sudden urge to stick on some cotton wool and head over to a flock of hillside sheep in order to baa away the rest of my days in Arcadian serenity.
Happily for my wife and kids I had no cotton wool to hand so instead continued the drive into Broughton Beck – and I must say when I saw our cottage, I was glad not to have acted out my ovine fantasy: Fellside Barn is not a place to miss. Earlier this year I reviewed the film adaptation of The Magic Faraway Tree, a tale both of lands in the sky and heaven on earth. It is no exaggeration to say that the heaven-on-earth portion could well have been shot at Fellside Barn, such is its filmic quality.
Arriving at the cottage you must first untether the gate before manoeuvering your vehicle into the property’s grassy drive. Once out of the car you will be overcome by the abundance of foliage, plants and fresh produce. Even the facade of the cottage is largely draped in verdant greenery. At the centre of the front lawn is a bird table, and next to it a tree resplendent with the sort of rosy apples that got Snow White into such a pickle.
As you explore farther, you will find decking with a table and chairs overlooking the adjacent fells: the ultimate spot for an al fresco meal. All in all, Fellside’s garden scene is so impossibly perfect, I half expected to see Monty Don wheeling his barrow round the corner and to hear a refrain from Jimmie Rodgers’ ‘English Country Garden’ piped into the atmosphere from some ethereal source.
What's it like inside?
Once you remember there is actually a cottage to stay in and venture inside, you will be similarly delighted. Though the property only sleeps four, the open-plan living area manages to feel big enough to allow for children to roam wild, while also not feeling so big as to lose a sense of warmth and cosiness, especially with the inviting log burner which I imagine would make a Christmas stay feel implausibly festive.
Fellside Barn's surprising past
Talking of warmth, property hosts Brian and Sheila Foster provide it in abundance. Upon arrival you will find an extremely generous basket of goodies including wine, biscuits, eggs, milk, filter coffee and bread. Brian called round on the first evening we arrived to make sure everything was to our liking and he is both charming and chatty. It was during our conversation that he revealed the cottage had once been a cowshed – so no wonder I thought it had ‘moo-vie’ credentials…
Moo-ving on from that udderly awful gag, Sheila is equally kindly and solicitous. At the time of our stay, there was some disruption to local water supplies due to ongoing works by the utility company, and so she popped by with a huge bottle of water for us in case we ever found the taps to be unyielding.
I appreciate personal touches are the icing on the cottage cake but you will find Fellside’s cake to be of the highest order too. The kitchen isn’t the most modern but what it lacks in whizziness it more than makes up for in size and functionality – though my favourite aspect had less to do with function and more to do with heritage: the wooden Dutch doors leading out onto the decking.
Both bedrooms are well-sized with plenty of storage space and the bathroom, replete with a bath-shower and toilet, does the job – though in an ideal world it would perhaps be a little bigger. This is not an accusation which can be levelled at the cottage’s porch which is practically a room in and of itself. It’s designed with mud-caked boots and hiking gear in mind, and you could also easily use it to store multiple mountain bikes and other outdoor-pursuit equipment.
Arthur Ransome fans must do this...
You might be pushing it with a kayak but Broughton Beck is just a 15-minute drive from the southern shores of Coniston Water, which fans of Arthur Ransome’s beloved Swallows and Amazons series of books will know well. Unlike Windermere, Coniston Water offers a far less stressful means of getting out on the water. Overlooking the lake is the Old Man of Coniston, offering 803 metres of elevation, making it just right for those seeking more of a challenge than a leisurely row.
Talking of arduous challenges, the main purpose of my stay in the Lake District was to run the Lakeland 50 ultra marathon which finishes up in Coniston Village. Sadly the toll this effort took on my 43-year-old body made any subsequent hikes a physical impossibility. In fact, it made pretty much everything a physical impossibility so I was most grateful to be staying in a cottage without a stair in sight – if only there were a walk-in bath, too.
The verdict
As I started on a poetic note, I will finish on one. In the concluding verse of Daffodils, Wordsworth writes of lying on his couch and evoking “the bliss of solitude” that he found on his walk “beside the lake” that day. Given my injury issues post ultra, I too have spent many an hour lying on my couch turning an “inward eye” to the blissful solitude we found at Fellside Barn.
With the rest of the Lake District right on its doorstep, it was a holiday which proved you really can find peace and quiet in the summer months, and step in and out of the touristic scrum only as you see fit.
How to book it: A short break at Fellside Barn with Rural Retreats costs from £576; seven nights from £942.
Tim and his family were guests of Rural Retreats. All stays and experiences have been independently reviewed by our expert writers, who are usually hosted on a complimentary basis, but this never affects our review process.
