• Alston
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Borrowdale with Watendlath and Newlands Valley

Once referred to as a ´wild country south of Keswick´ by writer William Gilpin in 1752, Borrowdale first attracted tourists in the Victorian era.  One of the most beautiful places in the Lake District, the rugged landscape boasts oak woodlands and stunning scenery. Massive stone walls wind their way through the valleys down to the deep water of the River Derwent.

Leading to Scafell Pike, Great Gable, Bow Fell and Glaramara, Borrowdale offers visitors a range of diverse landscapes. The mountains create their own rain, and Seathwaite has been recorded as the wettest inhabited place in England. Take a trip around Seatoller, with its old mining cottages, which once housed the quarrymen from Honister Slate Mine.

The Langstrarth Valley leads through the tiny hamlet of Stonethwaite to the open countryside where flocks of Herdwick sheep wander on common pastures. Rosthwaite is situated in the heart of Borrowdale. Visitors can enter Grange by way of a double arched bridge dating back to 1675.

The hanging valley of Watendlath can be accessed by a single track road from Derwentwater over the beautiful Ashness Bridge, and although the neighbouring valley of Newlands is mostly used as sheep pasture, it has long been admired for its rural landscape.

History and culture of Borrowdale

If you want to enjoy the history and culture of Borrowdale, some of the best monuments to visit include:

St Andrew´s Church Borrowdale

This white church contains a pulpit which was bought from Mardale Church, before it was flooded by Haweswater Reservoir in 1937. The churchyard is home to the graves of Sarah Youdale, the ´Queen of Borrowdale´ and legendary fell runner, Bob Graham.

Newlands Church at Little Town Newlands Valley

The simple church of Newlands is surrounded by trees and is situated a short distance from Little Town. A small school is attached to the church that provided lessons for local children up to 1967.

Ashness Bridge near Watendlath

Ashness Bridge is one of the most photographed viewpoints in the Lake District, and is a superb example of a packhorse bridge. Offering visitors one of the most famous views in Cumbria, looking north to Derwentwater, the bridge is located three miles south of Keswick.

Borrowdale information and the National Trust

An independent charity, the National Trust looks after most of Borrowdale, including the high fells, the valley floor and also parts of Newlands. The first National Trust land was at Brandlehow Park, on the edge of Derwentwater, and was bought through public subscription to safeguard the landscape. Conservation work on 11,000 hectares of National Trust land is also vital, to keep the wildlife, flora and fauna in its natural habitat.

The Bowder Stone at Borrowdale weighs aound 1,250 tons, and appears to be precariously balanced on one corner. It is most likely to have been carried here from Scotland by the Ice Age glaciers.

Seathwaite in Borrowdale holds the record for being the wettest place in England, with an annual rainfall of over 3 metres. The heaviest rainfall ever recorded in the UK was at Sprinkling Tarn in 1954, when over 6 metres of rain fell in 12 months. ´Thwaite´ is a common suffix of place names in Borrowdale and other areas of Cumbria, and it is a Norse word for ´clearing´.

The Borrowdale Sop is an intriguing small cloud which develops at the head of Borrowdale near Styhead Tarn, and weather watchers monitor its movements to predict the local weather. If the cloud drifts towards St John´s in the Vale, the weather will continue to be good, but if it drifts towards Langdale, rain will follow shortly.

Borrowdale is renowned for its old oak woodlands, and these are the last remnants of the rainforests which once covered the western coasts of Britain. The woods provide a perfect habitat for rare liverworts, lichens, ferns and mosses and are home to many insect and bird species.

Evidence of the last Ice Age is everywhere in Borrowdale, including classic U-shaped valleys and abandoned boulders which have been dumped by the retreating ice. When the ice began to melt 10,000 years ago, the eroded material was dumped in linear ridges. At least three of these linear ridges have been identified in the Rosthwaite area. 

 The glacial lake of Derwentwater was once joined to Bassenthwaite Lake until deposits of silt blocked the section to the west of Keswick. These are the only two lakes in the UK which are still home to the endangered relic fish, the Vendace, which is a relic fish from the last Ice Age.

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