Buttermere

Buttermere is a hamlet of a few farms, two hotels, a church and a cafe, set on the strip of flat land between two lakes: Buttermere to the south and Crummock Water to the north. High Stile, Red Pike and Haystacks rise steeply above, and the roads in come over Honister Pass, Newlands Hause or up the long Lorton Vale. Few places in the Lakes feel so completely enclosed by mountains.

The walk round Buttermere lake, about four and a half miles on good paths with a short rock tunnel at Hassness, is one of the best low level walks in England and suits almost anyone. Haystacks, at the head of the valley, was Alfred Wainwright's favourite fell and his ashes were scattered by Innominate Tarn on its summit plateau. Scale Force, reached by a path from the village, falls through a narrow ravine and is one of the tallest waterfalls in the Lake District.

After a walk, the Fish Inn and the Bridge Hotel serve food and drink, and Syke Farm sells ice cream made from its own herd. St James's Church, on the knoll above the village, has a memorial to Wainwright set below a window that looks out to Haystacks.

There is very little parking: a National Trust car park in the village, one at Gatesgarth at the head of the lake, and some lay bys, all full by mid morning in summer. The 77 and 77A buses from Keswick are the best way in. There is little mobile signal.