Pre kids, Gary and I have stayed in various hotels and b&bs around the Lakes, but since going with the children we’ve always stayed in Bowness on Windermere. Yes it can get busy around this area, especially in the summer months, but we always tend to visit spring and autumn, during the week, and outside of school holidays (Orlaith starts school in September so we will have to opt for school holidays, but we will probably still use Bowness as our base)
We would normally spend one full day in Bowness, but we love it as a base as it has lots of cafes, bars and restaurants, is right on lake Windermere, walking distance or a short drive in to Windermere village itself, and we’ve just found it being much easier staying walking distance to amenities when we’ve travelled with the kids. There's a Tesco Express in Bowness, a Booths, Sainsbury's local and a Boots in Windermere, all of which, despite being as prepared as we can, have had to visit at some point during one of our visits so we like to have these close by. Bowness is also a great base to visit lots of the other parts of the Lakes.
So, for your day in Bowness, weather dependent, start with a visit to the world of Beatrix Potter. Orlaith loves Peter Rabbit and she calls here ‘Peter Rabbit’s house’. When we visited in 2019 she went here three times cause she loved it so much (once with us, twice with grandparents whilst mummy and daddy had lunch baby free 🙌🏻)
There are soooo many lunch options around Bowness. We like the Flying Pig for pub food, and the Angel Inn for its beer garden. There’s the Magic Roundabout for lovely coffee and cake (and in the evening, or even the afternoon, why not, you're on holiday, they do great cocktails!), or wander down Ash Street and you'll find plenty of little restaurants/cafes for a bite to eat (we love the Italian Villa Positano on this little street).
After a lunch stop, head down to the lake for a walk and a boat trip. We normally hire one of the electric boats and go out for an hour or so on the lake. We love this and have taken Orlaith on one of the boats since she was around 18 months old so definitely doable with the younger children (just pack snacks and a drink :-) )
Once off the boats there is a lovely pram friendly walk which we like to do when we visit Bowness. If you pass the boats and continue to walk along the promenade, and then down Glebe Road, you will come to a National Trust entrance of Cockshott Point. Follow the path and you will walk a gorgeous length of the shoreline of lake windermere with lovely lake views and views across to Belle Isle. You can continue down to Ferry Nab where you will see many more boats, but we usually turn off at the kissing gate, heading back towards Glebe Road. Cross the road once you get to Glebe Road and walk down the pedestrian only Rectory Road back into Bowness.
Stop off for for the best ice cream in Bowness at Windemere Ice Cream and Chocolate and that's your day spent! If we've had lunch out we would tend to head back for dinner at our accommodation, but if you don't fancy cooking, there are lots of takeaway options around and we love the Chippy SeaFarers which is located on Rayrigg Road.
Feel free to message me any questions, on here, or on Instagram. Or comment below and i will come back to you as soon as I can :-)
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