Dog-friendly The Northern Lakes

Bank Tavern

Keswick · CA12 5DS

Bank Tavern is a pub on Main Street, Keswick. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Casa's Sports Bar

Keswick · CA12 5BL

Casa's Sports Bar is a pub in Keswick. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Castle Inn Hotel

Bassenthwaite

Castle Inn Hotel is a pub in Bassenthwaite. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Craft Beer Keswick

Keswick · CA12 5JB

Craft Beer Keswick is a pub on Pack Horse Court, Keswick. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Crooked River Brewing Tap

Keswick · CA12 5JB

Crooked River Brewing Tap is a pub on Packhorse Court, Keswick. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Dog and Gun

Keswick · CA12 5BT

Dog and Gun is a pub on Lake Road, Keswick. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Restaurants & cafés · 90

Aira Force Tearooms

Dockray · CA11 0JS

Aira Force Tearooms is a place to eat on Park Brow, Dockray. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Asaya Thai

Keswick · CA12 5HH

Asaya Thai is a place to eat on Station Street, Keswick. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Bassenthwaite Lake Station

Dubwath · CA13 9YL

Bassenthwaite Lake Station is a place to eat in Dubwath. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Bench Cafe

Keswick · CA12 5JD

Bench Cafe is a place to eat on Main Street, Keswick. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Booths Cafe

Keswick

Booths Cafe is a place to eat in Keswick. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Borrowdale YHA

Longthwaite

Borrowdale YHA is a place to eat in Longthwaite. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Walks · 24

3.6 MI · LOOP

Brandelhow Park and the Octavia Hill shore

Keswick · CA12 5UE

3.6MILES

1:30TIME

70mCLIMB

98%OFF-ROAD

VERIFIED 30 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›

The quiet western shore of Derwent Water, on the side with no road, reached by the Keswick Launch to Hawes End jetty. The outward leg runs south along the lake edge through the parkland at Brandelhow, the first ground the National Trust ever bought in the Lake District, past the Low Brandelhow jetty and the bronze hands sculpture to the picnic table at High Brandelhow. The return doubles back on the upper woodland track beneath a line of Douglas firs to the Hawes End Adventure Centre. It is flat, shaded and lined with shallow gravel entries to the water, which makes it one of the better hot-afternoon walks in the northern Lakes.

5.4 MI · LOOP

Livestock — leads on Water bowls

Castle Crag and Millican Dalton's cave

Borrowdale

5.4MILES

2:35TIME

230mCLIMB

92%OFF-ROAD

Five and a half miles and about two and a half hours for 230 metres of climb: the Allerdale Ramble along the Derwent from Seatoller, then the slate spoil zigzag onto Castle Crag, the smallest Wainwright and the best view in Borrowdale. Start at the National Trust Seatoller car park at the foot of Honister, paid, around 60 spaces, and usually the last car park in the valley to fill. The riverside section is enclosed and the Derwent has deep pools a dog can swim in, but the final 80 metres onto the crag climbs loose slate spoil that cuts pads and is genuinely steep, and the summit is a small rocky platform with drops on three sides - many people leave the dog with a companion at the col.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›

8.9 MI · LOOP

Catbells and the Newlands round from Keswick

Keswick · CA12 5DJ

8.9MILES

4:20TIME

410mCLIMB

84%OFF-ROAD

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›

Eight and three quarter miles and 410 metres of climb, four and a half hours: out of Keswick by Portinscale and the west shore to Hawes End, up Skelgill Bank onto Catbells, then down to the Newlands valley and back. Start from the Lakeside car park in Keswick, or take the Keswick Launch to Hawes End - dogs travel for a small fare and it removes three road miles. The ridge is superb for a dog with the head for it, but be honest about the two rock steps low on Skelgill Bank, which are hands-on for people and awkward for a short-legged dog, and the summit ridge is narrow with drops both sides; the fell is grazed throughout and there is no water above the Hawes End gate.

1.5 MI · LOOP

Cinderdale, the valley of cinders

Buttermere · CA13 9RY

1.5MILES

1:00TIME

90mCLIMB

98%OFF-ROAD

VERIFIED 30 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›

A mile and a half from the free roadside car park at Cinderdale on Crummock Water, out along the fellside below Grasmoor and back along the lake shore. The high leg passes a post-medieval sheepfold rebuilt by the National Trust in the 1990s and a wall stone said to have been used to sharpen iron age swords. The drop to the shore is steep and slippery when wet. On the lakeside leg the path darkens almost to black where it crosses a medieval bloomery, and lumps of iron slag still show on the beach.

7.5 MI · LOOP

Livestock — leads on Off-lead allowed Water bowls

Crummock Water and Low Ling Crag

Buttermere · CA13 9XA

7.5MILES

3:13TIME

120mCLIMB

92%OFF-ROAD

Seven and a half miles and around three and a quarter hours with very little climb, following the wilder western shore of Crummock Water out to the shingle spit at Low Ling Crag and returning under Melbreak. It starts in Buttermere village from the National Trust car park; there is also a small free parking area at Lanthwaite Green at the far end if you want to walk it the other way round. The spit itself is the point of the walk for a dog - a curved beach of clean shingle with deep water either side and nobody on it - but the shore path is rough and boggy in places, there is a beck ford that runs knee-deep after rain, and the Scale Bridge fields are grazed with lambs from March.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›

1.25 MI · LOOP

Derwent Water and Cockshot Wood accessible loop

Keswick · CA12 5DJ

1.25MILES

45mTIME

40mCLIMB

70%OFF-ROAD

VERIFIED 30 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›

A stile-free mile and a quarter from the Lakeside car park, along the Derwent Water promenade and back over the low wooded hill of Cockshot Wood, with the whole line of Catbells and Causey Pike across the water. There is an optional 250 yard spur out to Friar's Crag, where the path narrows to under three feet and drops steeply to the lake, so it is worth thinking twice with a strong dog. Around Strandshag Bay you choose between a compacted upper path through a sheep-grazed field and a rougher lower path on the shoreline with boulders and tree roots. It is the one walk in Keswick that works with a wheelchair or a pushchair as well as a dog.

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Stays · 299

14 Limetree

Cockermouth · CA13 9HW

14 Limetree is a place to stay on Limetree Crescent, Cockermouth. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Abacourt House Bed & Breakfast

Keswick

Abacourt House Bed & Breakfast is a place to stay on Stanger Street, Keswick. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Acorn House

Keswick · CA12 4DL

Acorn House is a place to stay on Ambleside Road, Keswick. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Acorn Self Catering

Keswick · CA12 4DL

Acorn Self Catering is a place to stay on Acorn Street, Keswick. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Albany

Keswick · CA12 5DQ

Albany is a place to stay on Lake Road, Keswick. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Allerdale House

Keswick · CA12 4DH

Allerdale House is a place to stay on Eskin Street, Keswick. It is listed here so you know it is there, but we have not yet established whether dogs are welcome — so there is no verdict on this page and no stamp. If it is your business, claim the page and tell us, and we will stamp it.

Attractions · 4

Attraction DOGS WELCOME

Keswick Launch, Derwentwater

Keswick

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW ›

The round-the-lake launch from the Keswick landing stages, calling at eight jetties including Hawes End and Ashness Gate for the classic lakeshore walks. Well-behaved dogs are welcome on board and travel free of charge, which makes a one-way ticket the easiest way to shorten a long day.

Attraction DOGS WELCOME

Whinlatter Forest

Braithwaite · CA12 5TW

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW ›

England's only true mountain forest, rising steeply above Braithwaite with waymarked walking trails, red squirrels and a visitor centre and cafe. Dogs are allowed on the trails; keep them clear of the mountain-bike descents, which cross the walking routes.

Attraction SOME LIMITS

Castlerigg Stone Circle

Keswick · CA12 4RN

Thirty-eight stones in a field east of Keswick with Blencathra and the Helvellyn range around them, free to visit and open at any reasonable hour. Dogs on leads are welcome; the field is grazed by sheep and the ground churns up after rain.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW ›

Attraction SOME LIMITS

Mirehouse and its lakeside grounds

Bassenthwaite · CA12 4QE

A family-run historic house on the A591 with grounds running down to the shore of Bassenthwaite Lake, opposite the Dodd Wood car park and the Old Sawmill. The interest for a dog is the grounds rather than the house: a walled bee garden, the Poetry Walk through the woods and a path out to the lake shore and St Bega's church. Dogs are welcome in the grounds on a short lead but are kept out of the four adventure playgrounds, and the walks cross working farmland with stock in the fields. It is open April to October only.