As many walkers know, better views can often be obtained from a low peak, with lakes, tarns and higher peaks close by, rather than on the higher peaks themselves. Some fairly low tops, in alphabetical order, worth visiting are:

Adventure Centres.
On the west coast at Whitehaven you can take marine adventure cruises along the Lake District coast to see the wildlife. Sailing is from the harbour slipway adjacent to the waterfront cafes.
Water sports tuition including sailing, windsurfing, canoeing and kayaking can be had at Nichole End Marine, which also has a waterside cafe and chandlery department. It is situated on the north west side of Derwent Water,
These water sports are also available at Derwent Water Marina, a little further north at Portinscale. It also provides ghyll scrambling and mountain sports.
Both marinas provide free carparking and changing rooms with shower facilities, wet suits and buoyancy aids.   
Ghyll Scrambling, canoeing and kayaking are available at the Newlands Adventure Centre at Stair near Keswick. Also available are high rope courses, mountain biking, climbing, abseiling , archery and orienteering all with qualified instructors.
Low Wood Watersports, 2 miles north of Windermere provides water skiing, water surfing, kayaking, canoeing and boat hire as well as changing rooms with showers, refreshments and free parking.

Aquaria.
Further up the coast at Maryport is The Coast Aquaria, where the sea is simulated by crashing waves and there are displays of local marine and river life including pike, plaice, bass, starfish, rays, sharks, cuttlefish, seahorses, conger eels and octopuses.
At the south end of the Windermere at Newby Bridge is a freshwater aquarium, Aquarium of the Lakes where you can walk under water along Windermere's re-created lake bed and gain an insight into the secret world that lies beneath the surface. You can discover the wildlife, that is to be found above and below a lakeland river from its source in the mountains down to the sea, meeting pike, otters, diving ducks, starfish, sharks and rays.To Top

Cafes, Tea Rooms, Inns.
There are far too many to list here. All the small towns will have several. Those that are listed are some used by the Penrith Ramblers, which you are outside the main towns.
If you have a large party, you might consider phoning first. Not all the tearooms are open all year.

The Old Sawmill Tearooms, Mirehouse, Underskiddaw, on A591. Tel 017687 74317.
Granny Dowbekins, Pooley Bridge. Tel 017684 86453.
Kirkstile Inn, Loweswtaer, Tel 01900 85219.
The Miller Inn, Mungrisdale, east of Blencathra. Tel 017687 79632
Greystones Coffee House, Glenridding, Tel 017684 82392.
Grange Bridge Cottage Tea Shop, Grange, Tel 017687 77201
Airaforce Tea Room, Watermillock, Tel 017684 82881. (Best on foot as you may be charged for car parking.)
The Watermill Cafe, Priests Mill, Calbeck, Tel 016974 78267.
Side Farm, Patterdale, Tel 017684 82337
The Royal Oak, Rosthwaite, Tel 017687 77214
Low Bridge End Farm, St John's in the Vale, Tel 017687 79242
Whinlatter Visitor Centre, Braithwaite, Tel 017687 78068
Caffle House Tea Rooms, Watendlath, Tel 017687 77219
The Old Smithy, Caldbeck, Tel 016974 78246
Uldale Gallery and Tearoom is midway between Caldbeck and the norther tip of Bassenthwaite Lake, Tel 016973 71778.
Two tearooms can be accessed from the A66, A5086 roundabout, south of Cockermouth.
First: The Old stackyard tearooms, Tel 01900 822777. (Take the south west exit for Mitchells Agricultural Market and follow signs for Wellington Jersey Ice Cream, which is homemade and supplied at the tea room.)
Second: The sheep and Wool Centre, Tel 01900 822673. (Access is off the A5086 to Egremont.) A large shop sells wool goods and books and incorporates a cafe selling hot meals and snacks.
Besides water sports tuition and hire, Nichol End Marine has a waterside cafe on the north west side of Derwent Water, Tel 017687 73082.
See also garden centres, all of which have tea rooms.To Top

Forest Parks.
Grizedale Forest Park lies between Coniston and Hawkshead. It has a visitor's centre and a number of woodland trails each with forest sculptures positioned along the way, which are of special interest to children. A lot of damage occured here, as in other wooded parts of the Lake District during the storms in January 2005. Many fine tree specimens were blown over and lost. However many are being left in place to provide new refuges for wild life, which abounds in this sanctuary.
Ospreys have been breeding on the west side of Bassenthwaite Lake for a few years. CCTV of their activities can be viewed at the visitor centre at Whinlatter Forest Park to the west of Bassenthwaite Lake. In the forest there are walking and cycling trails, with a cafe and a picnic area at the centre. On the other side of the lake, a mile from the nest and close to Mire House and The Old Sawmill Tearooms, is the Dodd Wood open air Osprey viewpoint. Here there are fixed telescopes, with a magnification of x70, aimed at the nest site. This is open between April and September. If you move to the side of the lake, the nest is much closer and viewing with binoculars is possible.
Further information on both forest parks can be obtained from the Forestry Commission.To Top

Galleries, craft shops and museums.
The beauty of the Lakes has attracted many artists and craftspeople to set up there own studios, workshops and galleries in the area. Grasmere has a number of outlets for their work, especially paintings, which includes The Heaton Cooper Studio, which has original paintings.

In Cockermouth there is The Percy House Gallery, which has exhibitions of textiles, photographs, paintings, jewellery, glass, metalwork and sculpture and is well worth a visit.

The Beatrix Potter Gallery, 2 miles from Hawkshead is run by The National Trust, and has Beatrix's original artwork and material from the film "Miss Potter" on display.

The Kirkstone Galleries are situated on the A593 at Skelwith Bridge beteween Coniston and Ambleside. They specialise in handpainted crockery, glassware, contemporary home furnishing and items from pendants to pastry boards made from a sea green stone quarried only in Cumbria.

Blackwell, The Arts and Crafts House 1.5 miles south of Bowness, with its stained glass windows and original carved oak panelling, has exhibitions of contemporary and historical applied art in its upper galleries.

Furniture and turned wooden gifts can be seen being made from the viewing gallery at Peter Hall & Son's workshop, Stavely near Kendal, where there is also a gift shop.

3 miles north is The Kentmere Pottery Studio, which specialises in ceramics and multi-fired English enamels, including lamps and tableware.

On the west coast at Whitehaven there is the Beacon Art Gallery and Museum, where you can discover the town's industrial and maritime past, including its connections with mining and slavery.

At Egremont you will find Lowes Court Gallery showing a wide range of paintings, prints and craft work.

In Keswick is the Pencil Museum which has exhibits and film showing the heritage of pencils over the last 170 years and the Motor Museum, which has 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', Batmobiles and other vehicles from TV and film.

In Priest's Mill, Caldbeck in the North Lakes is the The Wool Clip, which is a local co-operative of farmers and craft workers using wool from Herdwick and Swaledale sheep in the area. Rugs, throws, cushions, hats, scarves and lots more are available.

Thornthwaite Galleries are situated in Thornthwaite, which lies north of Braithwaite on a minor road running roughly parallel to the A66. The gallery is open daily except Tuesdays. Demonstrations in painting, wood carving and jewellery are held. Go to noticeboard of local media gallery for callender of events.

Gosforth Pottery is in Gosforth just off the A595 and to the south west of Wasdale Valley, which has the highest mountain, the deepest lake and the smallest church in England. Besides hand-thrown pottery, photographs of the Lake District taken by local photographers and printed on canvas are available.

See also Ruskin Museum (Homes of famous Lakeland people).To Top

Garden Centres.
There are number of garden centres worth a visit. The largest is probably Hayes Garden World at Ambleside, which is open 7 days a week, except for Christmas Day, New Year's Day and Easter Sunday. It has a large open area selling plants and garden accessories and a large shop with a tea room. (Try to park at the centre, as parking in the area is expensive). Grasmere Garden Centre in Grasmere and Oakhurst Garden Centre in Cockermouth concentrate mostly on plants. Both have tea rooms.

Gardens.
On the east side of Bassenthwaite Lake is historic Mirehouse, a family home, at the foot of Skiddaw. It has pleasant sheltered gardens and a peaceful walk beside Bassenthwaite lake. Open between April and October, family members look after visitors to the house, where they are often accompanied by live classical music!
Levens Hall is an Elizabethan house near Kendal containing Jacobean furniture, plasterwork and panelling with its world famous topiary gardens, first laid out in 1694;
Sizergh Castle with garden and walks near Kendal, run by the National Trust. - the castle has been lived in by the Strickland family for over 760 years;
and Holker Hall, with its lovely gardens and a Motor Museum, which includes a mock-up of Donald Campbell's Bluebird together with 30,000 pieces of motoring memorabilia.

Muncaster Castle is well worth a visit. The castle, about a mile from the mouth of the River Esk, has been the home of the Penningtons for over 800 years. It has an octagonal library, elegant dining room and a tapestry room said to be haunted. It is the headquarters of the World Owl Trust and has over 70 acres of plants and trees including rhododendron and Camellia collections.
At certain times the visitor can watch flying displays of kestrels and owls and the feeding of many wild herons.  <

Homes of famous Lakeland people.
For those interested in the Lakeland poets, there is Wordsworth House, in Cockermouth, which was William Wordsworth's childhood home, and in Grasmere there is Dove Cottage, where he lived as an adult and produced his most important work. The new Wordsworth Museum dedicated to his work and life has recently been opened near to the cottage.
Near Ambleside there is Rydal Mount and Gardens, another of Wordsworth's homes. set in breathtaking scenery.

Brantwood, Coniston is the former home of John Ruskin, artist, critic and social reformer. You can explore the gardens beautifully located by the lake. Not far away is the Ruskin Museum, which besides artefacts of its namesake has records of Donald Campbell speeding over Coniston Water in Bluebird. The boat in which he died, has been recovered from the lake and is (hopefully) going to be restored.

Hill Top, a 17th century farmhouse, near Sawrey is where Beatrix Potter wrote and illustrated many of her famous children's stories. It is now owned by the National Trust and has been kept exactly as she left it, complete with furniture, china and a traditional cottage garden.

Called 'Manor from Heaven' by Melvyn Bragg, the broadcaster, Mirehouse is a historic family home, at the foot of Skiddaw on the east side of Bassenthwaite Lake. It has pleasant sheltered gardens and a peaceful walk beside the lake. The house is open between April and October, when family members look after visitors often accompanied by live classical music!

Mining Museums.
On the west coast, near Egremont, there is the Florence Mine Heritage Centre, which is the site of the last deep iron ore mine in the UK. Here there is a mining museum and you can take daily underground tours.
Instead of going down a mine, you can make an initial climb up to the Honister Slate Mine, before entering caverns deep inside Fleetwith Pike 2126' high. The caverns are the result of slate mining, which have recently been re-started. 4 tours are available into the mountain side. The mine lies above the Honister pass between Buttermere and Seatoller.
Threlkeld Quarry & Mining Museum has the largest collection of working vintage excavators in Europe and a collection of narrow gauge railway locomotives. It is siuated to the south of Blencathra, just off the A66.To Top

Motor launch trips.
Motor launches ply both Derwentwater and Ullswater. Sometimes a group of The Penrith Ramblers include a launch trip on one of these lakes as part of their walk. For further information contact Keswick on Derwentwater Launch Company Ltd or Ullswater Steamers. Ullswater Steamers have 3 boats, and with favourable weather conditions, sail every day except Christmas Eve and Christmas Day between Pooley Bridge, Howtown and Glenridding. (At both lakes, high water levels can put landing piers under water.)

Windermere Lake Cruises sail daily throughout the year between Ambleside, Bowness and Lakeside. Special cruises include Jazz/Buffet, Island, Christmas Lunch, Evening and Santa specials.You can charter any of their launches or 'Steamers' for private use, such as weddings or corporate entertaining.

Coniston Launch provide an environmentally friendly solar electric passenger boat service to 7 jetties in Coniston Water.

Sellafield Visitors Centre:
Only a few miles north of the River Esk on the west coast is the Sellafield Visitors Centre, situated on the BNFL ( British Nuclear Fuels Limited) site. The centre features 'hands -on' interactive scientific experiments, intriguing shows and technology displays. Admission is free.

Steam railways:
Near Muncaster Castle is the 15 inch gauge Ravenglass and Eskdale steam railway, which runs 7 miles inland towards Hard Knott Pass. Relying mainly on tourists, its small locomotives pull tiny coaches (some open top) from late March through to October. The oldest locomotive is the 'River Irt' dating from 1894.
The Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway is of normal gauge and so pulls full size passenger coaches through the Leven Valley. Connections can be made to Windermere Lake Cruises at Lakeside. (See also the Aquarium of the Lakes (Aquaria), which is also at Lakeside. To Top

Stone circles - North Lake District:
To the east of Keswick is Castlerigg Stone Circle, map reference NY293236, with its superb views, dating from about 3200 BC, the beginning of the later Neolithic Period and one of the oldest stone circles in Britain.
It has 38 stones roughly in a circle 30m diameter with 10 stones forming an inner rectangular enclosure, which is unique to Castlerigg. It is thought to have been used for religious and ceremonial purposes.   
On Askham Fell, east of Ullswater is The Cockpit, map reference NY483222. This consists of a ring of stones 3m wide with internal diameter 25m.
(See also Stone Circles in Eden Valley).

Water mill:.
Just a short walk from the terminus of Eskdale (or Dalegarth) Station on the Ravenglass and Eskdale railway, is Eskdale Mill. The original machinery is fully operational grinding oatmeal daily. You can see its two waterwheels being powered by Whillan Beck, which runs down from the Scafell range.

Zoos.
In the south of Cumbria is the South Lakes Wild Animal Park, just north of Dalton in Furness, It is the largest zoo in the Lake District and particularly specialises in breeding programmes for threatened species including Andean Bears and tigers. Among other animals to be seen are giraffes, rhinos, apes, wallabies, kangaroos and penguins. It is well worth seeing a tiger get its meal by climbing to the top of a 20' tall post, all in the aid of building up its strength.
Are there red pandas and Siberian tigers still?
To the north of the Bassenthwaite Lake is Trotters World of Animals at Coalbeck Farm. It has otters, apes and monkeys, lynx, zebra and buffalo on view as well as flying displays of eagles and vultures.

1. For photographs and information on towns, events, facilities etc go to the Lake District National Park Authority
2. For further photographs go to the Visit Cumbria website.