Log Cabins & Lodges in Keswick

Table of Contents

• At a glance: What should you know about renting a log cabin or lodge in Keswick?
• Log Cabins & Lodges in Keswick: find your perfect retreat
• Exploring Keswick: our top recommendations
• Activities: What are the top things to do and see in Keswick?

• Cosy self-catering stays: Most Keswick lodges and cabins sleep two to six, with wood burners or gas central heating, full kitchens and private parking within walking distance of the market square.
• Where to base yourself: Portinscale and Borrowdale suit walkers wanting quiet lanes, while the town centre keeps pubs, buses and the theatre a few minutes from your door.
• Highly rated by guests: Recent visitors single out warm welcomes, spotless kitchens and enclosed gardens, with several Keswick properties scoring above 9.5+ over the past year.
• Best time to visit: May and September bring long daylight and calmer fells, while winter means quieter lanes, lower prices and a fire lit by four o'clock.
• Things to do nearby: Catbells, Derwentwater launch cruises, the Derwent Pencil Museum and the Castlerigg Stone Circle are all within a short drive or walk.

Keswick's log cabins and lodges range from timber-clad boltholes on wooded plots to slate-and-timber lodges on small parks near Derwentwater, most sleeping two to six. Whichever you choose, expect self-catering throughout.

Cabins here are built around wet boots, long walks and cold evenings, so look for:

• A wood burner or gas central heating for after a day on the fells
• A drying room, boot store or covered porch
• A hot tub or outdoor bath on a private deck
• An enclosed garden and pet-friendly terms for dogs
• Private parking, useful when the town car parks fill by mid-morning

Book early for half-term and bank holidays, when the best-equipped lodges go first.

What are the best areas to stay in Keswick?

For lake views and quick access to the fells, Portinscale is hard to beat. The table below details regions for specific interests:

What do our guests say?

Guests staying in and around Keswick over the past year consistently rate their hosts highly, with several properties holding scores of 9.7+ and above. Reviews mention thoughtful welcome baskets, spotless kitchens, reliable heating and hosts who share fell routes and bus times. Enclosed gardens, off-road parking and a short walk to the market square come up again and again as the details that make a stay work.

Here are our top-rated places to stay in Keswick from the past year:

1. The Old Mill - 9.9+: A snug two-person stay in Keswick, Cumbria, with a well-equipped kitchen and Wi-Fi for slower mornings after a long walk.
2. The Old Laundry 3 - 9.9+: Sleeps four in Keswick, Cumbria, with a private yard and parking, praised for its calm setting close to the town centre.
3. Flat 2 Lonsdale House - 9.8+: A four-person base in Keswick, Cumbria, with parking and a washing machine, handy after muddy days on the fells.

Keswick sits at the northern end of Derwentwater in Cumbria, ringed by Skiddaw, Catbells and the Borrowdale valley within the Lake District National Park.

🥗Where to eat in Keswick?

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

⭐Our guests’ recommendation: Our guest traveller Emma Wilson recommends the Square Orange Cafe Bar in Keswick: after a wet round of Catbells she thawed out by the fire with a flatbread and a local ale, and stayed for the live folk session.

1. Walk up Catbells
2. Cruise Derwentwater
3. Stand among the Castlerigg stones
4. Visit the Derwent Pencil Museum
5. Explore the Borrowdale valley
6. Catch a show at the Theatre by the Lake
7. Climb Skiddaw

1. Walk up Catbells

   The best-loved short climb in the area starts a ferry ride across Derwentwater at Hawes End. The ridge rises steeply but never for long, and the reward is a clean view over the lake to Skiddaw and down into Newlands. Allow three hours there and back, wear proper boots for the two scrambly steps near the top, and finish with the shoreline path back to the launch jetty rather than retracing your route.

2. Cruise Derwentwater

   The Keswick Launch runs a circuit of the lake with seven jetties, so you can step off at Lodore or Ashness Gate, walk a stretch of shore and rejoin the next boat. It is the easiest way to see the wooded islands and the crags of Borrowdale from the water, and it works just as well on a grey afternoon. Rowing boats are available at the same landing stages for anyone wanting to go it alone.

3. Stand among the Castlerigg stones

   Two miles east of town, Castlerigg Stone Circle sits on an open shelf with fells on every side. It is roughly 4,000 years old, free to visit and open at any hour, which makes sunrise and late evening the best times to have it more or less to yourself. The walk out from Keswick takes about forty minutes each way along quiet lanes, or there is a small roadside car park a short stroll from the field.

4. Visit the Derwent Pencil Museum

   Keswick made the world’s first pencils from local graphite, and the museum tells that story from cottage industry to modern factory. You enter through a replica graphite mine, meet the world’s longest pencil at nearly eight metres, and can see the wartime pencils that hid maps and compasses inside. It is compact, genuinely odd and reliably dry, which makes it the standard rainy-day fixture for families staying in town.

5. Explore the Borrowdale valley

   Follow the lake south and the valley narrows into one of the greenest corners of Cumbria. Stop at the Bowder Stone, a house-sized boulder with a staircase up its side, then carry on to Rosthwaite and Seatoller for riverside paths and old packhorse bridges. Keen walkers press on over Honister Pass to the slate mine; everyone else can simply take the bus back to Keswick when the light goes.

6. Catch a show at the Theatre by the Lake

   A short walk from the market square, the Theatre by the Lake runs drama, comedy and music year-round in two auditoriums, with a cafe looking straight out over the water. Tickets rarely need booking months ahead outside the summer season, and the interval bar is a pleasant place to be when the weather closes in. Check the programme early in your stay across the wider Lake District.

7. Climb Skiddaw

   At 931 metres, Skiddaw is one of England’s highest mountains and, by fell standards, a straightforward one. The path from the Latrigg car park is broad and unmistakable, climbing steadily for around two hours to a long summit ridge with views to the Solway Firth and, on the clearest days, southern Scotland. Take windproofs whatever the forecast says, as the top is exposed and colder than town.