Cottages in Cumbria

• Cottages for slow holidays: Stone-built barns, farm conversions and lakeside boltholes with wood burners, drying rooms and gardens, most sleeping between two and six guests.
• Bases across the county: Stay by Windermere or Derwentwater, near Ullswater and Penrith, in Carlisle for Hadrian's Wall, or on the quieter Cumbrian coast.
• Farm-to-table dining: Cumberland sausage, Herdwick lamb and Solway shellfish appear on menus from Kendal and Carlisle to Keswick and Whitehaven harbour.
• Guest favourites: Our best-reviewed cottages sit in Ambleside, Grasmere and the wider county, praised for fireside evenings and generous welcome hampers.
• Year-round appeal: Spring lambing and daffodils, long summer lake days, russet autumn fells and quiet winter weeks when rates dip.

Cumbria's cottages are wonderfully varied: whitewashed Lakeland cottages under slate roofs, converted stone barns on working Eden Valley farms and modest fishermen's cottages along the Solway coast. Many keep original beams and slate flagstones while adding underfloor heating and proper kitchens. If you would rather soak under the stars, browse cottages with a hot tub, travel with the dog at dog-friendly cottages, or trade stone for timber at log cabins across the county. Hosts here fit out their properties for genuinely restful, unhurried stays.

• Wood-burning stoves and baskets of seasoned logs
• Drying rooms and boot stores for wet walking kit
• Enclosed gardens with firepits and fell views
• Farmhouse kitchens with welcome hampers of local produce
• Off-road parking and reliable Wi-Fi in remote spots

Together these make a Cumbrian cottage ideal for slow, self-catering weeks in every season.

What are the best areas to stay in Cumbria?

For a first visit, Windermere and Bowness balance lake access, shops and easy road links better than anywhere else in the county. The table below details regions for specific interests:

What do our guests say?

Guests staying in Cumbrian cottages consistently praise the small things: logs already stacked by the burner, a hamper of Cumberland sausage and local eggs on arrival, and hosts who know which fell is sheltered when the weather turns. Ratings of 9.9+ are common for properties where the welcome feels personal rather than processed, and where walking straight from the door matters more than polished interiors.

Here are our top-rated cottages in Cumbria from the past year:

1. Waters Edge - 9.9+: A cottage for two with a fireplace and waterside setting, singled out by couples for peaceful evenings in North West Cumbria.
2. Fell View - 9.9+: Sleeps four in Ambleside, with a well-equipped kitchen and Wi-Fi, minutes from the village cafés and the Loughrigg paths.
3. Rowan Cottage - 9.9+: A six-guest cottage in Grasmere, praised for space, comfort and its position near the gingerbread shop and lakeside walks.

Tucked into North West England on the Scottish border, Cumbria stretches from the Lakeland fells to the Solway coast, taking in Carlisle, Hadrian's Wall, the Eden Valley and the Furness peninsula.

🥗Where to eat in Cumbria?

According to Google Maps data and reviews, The Thorne Tree Bistro is the best rated restaurant in Cumbria. Below is a table showing the top 5 highly-rated restaurants hand-picked by our travel experts.

⭐Our guests' recommendation: Our guest traveller Charlotte recommends the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop in Cumbria: a tiny former schoolroom selling the same spiced gingerbread since 1854, perfect stashed in a rucksack for a slow morning on the fells.

1. Walk the Catbells ridge
2. Cruise Ullswater by steamer
3. Trace Hadrian's Wall
4. Explore Carlisle's old city
5. Ride the Ravenglass railway
6. Wander the Eden Valley
7. Taste Cumbrian produce

1. Walk the Catbells ridge

   Rising straight from the western shore of Derwentwater, Catbells is the friendliest of the big-name Lakeland walks: a scrambly little ridge that most walkers manage in under three hours. Start from the Hawes End launch jetty near Keswick, climb through bracken to the summit and look down on wooded islands and the Newlands valley. Come back by boat if legs are tired. Cottages in Keswick put you within a short drive or ferry hop of the start.

2. Cruise Ullswater by steamer

   The Ullswater Steamers have run since 1859, linking Glenridding, Howtown and Pooley Bridge on England's most graceful lake. Ride one way and walk the shoreline path back, a seven-mile route through oak woods with the fells reflected beside you. Detour to Aira Force, the waterfall that supposedly inspired Wordsworth's daffodils. In spring the lower slopes really do turn yellow, and the boats are quiet enough to feel unhurried.

3. Trace Hadrian's Wall

   Cumbria holds the western third of the Roman frontier, from Birdoswald Fort above the Irthing gorge to the milefortlets that once continued down the Solway coast. Walk a stretch of the wall path across open farmland, then visit the small museums at Birdoswald and Carlisle to see altars, shoes and writing tablets left behind. It is far quieter here than the Northumberland crags, and easily managed as a day out from a cottage near Penrith or Carlisle.

4. Explore Carlisle's old city

   The county town rewards a slow afternoon. Carlisle Castle has held Mary, Queen of Scots and centuries of border raiders; the cathedral's painted ceiling and carved choir stalls are among the finest in the north. Between them sit the Tullie museum, a covered Victorian market and enough independent cafés for a long lunch. Carlisle also has direct trains south to Penrith and west along the coast, so you can leave the car at the cottage.

5. Ride the Ravenglass railway

   La'al Ratty, the narrow-gauge Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, chuffs seven miles inland from the only coastal village in the national park to Dalegarth, beneath Scafell. It is a gentle, old-fashioned way to reach Eskdale's packhorse bridges and waterfalls without a hairpin drive over Hardknott Pass. Ravenglass itself has a Roman bathhouse, a tidal estuary full of wading birds and the gardens of Muncaster on the hill above.

6. Wander the Eden Valley

   East of the M6 the crowds vanish. The Eden Valley is red-sandstone country: Appleby with its June horse fair, the stone circle of Long Meg and Her Daughters, and quiet villages where the river loops through pasture. Walk part of the Eden Valley Way, or ride the Settle-Carlisle line over Ais Gill for one of Britain's great railway views. It makes an easy, unhurried day from Ullswater and Penrith.

7. Taste Cumbrian produce

   Eating well here means buying close to home. Pick up coiled Cumberland sausage and dry-cured bacon from a village butcher, Herdwick lamb reared on the fells, and rum butter along the west coast. Kendal's market and Penrith's food halls are good hunting grounds, Grasmere supplies the gingerbread, and Kendal mint cake still fuels walkers on the tops. Cook it all slowly back at the cottage while the light fades over the fells.