Medieval, whitewashed and car-free. Hawkshead is one of the best preserved villages in England — and surrounded by Wray Castle, Tarn Hows and Grizedale Forest.
Looking for Hawkshead outdoor clothing? That was a clothing brand named after the village, closed since 2011 — this is Hawkshead the village in Cumbria, one of the most beautiful in the Lake District.
The medieval village
Looking for Hawkshead outdoor clothing? That was a clothing brand named after the village, closed since 2011 — this is Hawkshead the village in Cumbria, one of the most beautiful in the Lake District. Now we've cleared that up: Hawkshead is a medieval, whitewashed, car-free village in the southern Lakes between Coniston Water and Lake Windermere. It is small, quiet, and improbably well preserved. Some argue it's the prettiest village in England.
Is Hawkshead worth visiting? Yes — and it punches far above its size. Wray Castle, the Victorian Gothic NT property 4 miles east on the western shore of Windermere, is where Beatrix Potter spent the summer of 1882 that changed her life. Grizedale Forest, England's largest forest park, sits 3 miles south with mountain biking, Go Ape and a 90-piece outdoor sculpture trail. Tarn Hows — the most photographed tarn in England — is 2 miles north. Tabitha Twitchit's Bookshop — the National Trust's second-hand bookshop, formerly the Beatrix Potter Gallery — fills William Heelis's old 17th-century solicitor's office in the village. And the village itself is car-free, slate-and-whitewash, and walkable in twenty minutes.
A classic Hawkshead day: park at the main car park (LA22 0NT) and walk in, browse the village, Tabitha Twitchit's Bookshop (the former Gallery) before the crowds, lunch at the Queens Head (15th-century, low beams, Hawkshead Brewery ales), Wray Castle grounds or Tarn Hows in the afternoon. The free Lakes Planner times it all around the weather.
Live conditions
Grizedale's trails and Wray Castle's grounds are at their best in clear weather — but the village handles a wet day better than most.
Tomorrow
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Live data via Open-Meteo · updates each visit
The B5285 from Coniston and Ambleside can slow at the Tarn Hows junction. The Windermere Ferry queue at Bowness is the other bottleneck.
National Trust · Western Windermere shore · LA22 0JA
The biggest single attraction near Hawkshead — a Victorian Gothic castle on the quiet western shore, three miles away by bridleway, and the place where Beatrix Potter first set eyes on the Lake District in 1882.
The castle building is currently closed for refurbishment, with no published reopening date. The grounds, lakeshore, arboretum and Joey's Café stay open daily, and entry to the grounds is free to everyone.
Our full guide covers what's open and what isn't, what you'll actually pay to park, the Potter and Rawnsley story, the walks from the door and getting there by boat.
Read the complete Wray Castle visitor guide
3 miles south of the village
England's largest forest park sits 3 miles south of Hawkshead. Not just woodland — a full mountain bike trail centre, a Go Ape high ropes course, a 90-piece sculpture trail and miles of waymarked walking. Free to enter the forest; activities and parking have charges.
Two full trail grades: Silurian Trail (blue, 9 miles, family-rideable) and North Face Trail (red, 7 miles, full trail-centre rideable). Bike hire available at the visitor centre. One of the best MTB venues in northern England — alongside Whinlatter (near Keswick).
High ropes course through the forest canopy. Zip lines, Tarzan swings, treetop crossings. Adults from £33, children from £18. The best single family activity in the Hawkshead area. Book ahead — sells out on summer weekends and school holidays.
90 outdoor sculptures by international artists, scattered through 9 miles of forest trails. Free to walk and see. Some of the most surprising and thoughtful public art in England. Maps available at the visitor centre — pick a short loop or commit to the full trail.
Quiet tip: the eastern half of the sculpture trail sees a fraction of the visitors — same sculptures, half the people.
Visitor centre
LA22 0QJ
Parking
£3–£5/day
On-site
Café · bike hire · toilets
Dogs
Welcome on trails
Beatrix Potter · Main Street
The building on Main Street matters. It is a Grade II listed 17th-century town house, and it was the office of the solicitor William Heelis, whom Beatrix Potter married in 1913.
For years it was the Beatrix Potter Gallery, the National Trust's showcase for her original illustrations. The gallery closed in 2022. In February 2023 the humidity levels inside were found to be unsuitable for hanging artwork, and the originals did not return. Instead, on Tuesday 12 August 2025, the building reopened as Tabitha Twitchit's Bookshop: a National Trust second-hand bookshop, named after the cat in Potter's tales, run by a manager and volunteers and stocked with donated books. The Trust describes it as its first second-hand bookshop in England not attached to one of its properties.
I went in on 30 August 2026. It is a small cottage interior with low ceilings, second-hand books and Beatrix Potter memorabilia, and a volunteer at the front who knows the building and its history and will tell you about it. The shop hangs a reproduction of Potter's illustration of Tabitha Twitchit outside her shop, and the volunteer will point out the cladding above the door and the window beyond it — which the shop identifies as this building. Upstairs is reached by steep, narrow cottage stairs — a tight squeeze at 6ft 1 — so realistically only the ground floor is step-free. Check the National Trust's page before you go.
It is not the World of Beatrix Potter, the family indoor attraction six miles east in Bowness — that one is for under-tens, this building suits adults and older children. For Hill Top, the ferry route and the rest of Potter's Lakeland, see our full Beatrix Potter guide.
A mile from the village
The small, quiet lake between Hawkshead and Near Sawrey. Rowing boat and canoe hire from the eastern shore. The only trout fishery in the southern Lakes — day tickets for fly fishing from Esthwaite Water Trout Fishery (LA22 0PB). Beatrix Potter used to sketch here as a child. Almost no-one visits compared to Windermere or Coniston — genuine solitude a mile from the village.
Esthwaite Water fishing: rainbow and brown trout, fly only on most beats. Boat hire with permits available. The clubhouse café does breakfast for fishers — get there before 9am for the best of the morning rise.
Travel styles
Tap a style for hand-picked Hawkshead ideas for your group.
High ropes through the canopy. Best single family activity in the Hawkshead area. Book ahead — sells out summer weekends. LA22 0QJ.
Visit websiteThe castle building is closed for refurbishment, but the grounds are the family draw anyway — parkland, big specimen trees and a shingle beach on the lake. Grounds free to everyone; parking charged. LA22 0JA.
Visit website2 miles from Hawkshead. Flat 1.5-mile circular walk, pram-friendly, the most-photographed tarn in England. Tom Gill waterfall on the approach. LA21 8DP.
Visit websiteRowing boats and canoes from the eastern shore. Calm, shallow, perfect for kids learning to handle a boat. LA22 0PB.
Visit websiteThe former Beatrix Potter Gallery — now the National Trust's second-hand bookshop, in William Heelis's old solicitor's office. LA22 0NS.
Visit websiteThe Silurian Trail (blue, 9 miles) is rideable by confident family groups. Bike hire on site. Café at the visitor centre to recover after.
Visit websiteWant a timed itinerary built around your group?
Tell the planner your budget, transport and weather — it'll do the rest.
On foot
Four walks — the day walk to Tarn Hows, the quiet west-shore Claife Heights loop, Wray Castle's lake-edge circular, and the Beatrix Potter pilgrimage to Hill Top.
The classic day walk
Distance
5.5 mi
Time
2.5 hrs
Ascent
240 m
Walk to Tarn Hows from the village through woodland (2 miles), do the 1.5-mile circular at the tarn, walk back. The Hawkshead classic — no driving required.
Ancient woodland · red squirrels · quiet
Distance
5 mi
Time
2.5 hrs
Ascent
220 m
Ancient woodland and open fell above the western shore of Windermere. Red squirrels, fell views, almost no crowds. The hidden gem walk of the southern Lakes.
Flat · lake shore · 45 min
Distance
1.5 mi
Time
45 min
Ascent
Flat
Lake shore and woodland. Flat, dog-friendly, pram-friendly lower sections. Views across the lake to Ambleside and the central fells. See the dedicated Wray Castle section for the full story.
Beatrix Potter pilgrimage
Distance
2 mi
Time
45 min
Ascent
Easy
Walk to Beatrix Potter's Hill Top farm through fields and woodland. Return the same route or via Esthwaite Water for a 5-mile round trip. Hill Top open seasonally with NT timed tickets.
Where to park
Hawkshead village centre is car-free. Wherever you leave the car you walk in — about five minutes from the main car park (LA22 0NT).
Parking in Hawkshead is straightforward once you know two things: where the turn is, and which side of it to take. Get the second one wrong and you will have left the car somewhere you are not entitled to leave it, which is the one genuine trap here.
Finding the turn. The car park is off North Lonsdale Road and the turn is well signposted. Coming up from the Windermere ferry it is a left turn; from Coniston it is a right, and from Ambleside it is a right as well. If you are anxious about missing it, you will not: it is the only major turn in the Hawkshead area into anything other than a housing estate or a small group of houses. The landmark I use is the building carrying one large sign reading HAWKSHEAD — read that as a sign, not as a shop.
Once you have turned in there are two sides, and this is where visitors go wrong. The right-hand side is permit holders only and is not for general visitor parking. It can look like the emptier, easier option from the entrance, which is exactly why people take it.
The left-hand side is the pay-and-display car park, and that is the one you want. It is run by the Lake District National Park Authority, and their car parks page is where to check what you will pay before you set off. RingGo is accepted if you would rather pay by phone than stand at the machine. Certain bays are free for under 30 minutes — if you use one, you have to be gone inside the thirty minutes, so it is a bay for collecting something or looking at the village, not for a walk.
Toilets sit by the car park. They are paid, so arrive able to pay for them rather than assuming they are free. They sit beside the car park itself, so there is no walk into the village and back if someone needs them the moment you arrive.
5 min walk into the car-free centre · LA22 0NT
Car park for the Wray Castle site · 4 mi east · LA22 0JA
For forest activities · 3 mi south · LA22 0QJ
2 mi from the village · LA21 8DP
Where to eat
Small village, serious food — the Queens Head is one of the best 15th-century inns in the Lakes.
Main Street, LA22 0NS. 15th-century inn with low beams, log fire, slate floors, and proper Cumbrian food. Hawkshead Brewery ales on tap. The local pick for a serious pub lunch or dinner. Book ahead at weekends.
Visit websiteOrder this: a pint of Lakeland Gold and the slow-cooked Cumbrian beef. Sit by the fire.
Shop and café for the famous local condiment brand. Tasting bar, lunches, the best chutney and pickle shop in the southern Lakes. Light meals, brilliant Welsh rarebit. LA22 0NT.
Visit websiteHawkshead's second pub. Good beer garden, dog-friendly, solid pub food. The relaxed alternative to the Queens Head — quieter at weekends.
Visit websiteIn the forest visitor centre, 3 miles south. Good for lunch before or after the trails. Coffee, sandwiches, soup, cake. Café terrace looks into the sculpture park.
Visit website2 miles east at Hawkshead Hill. One of the Lakes' most-celebrated pub restaurants — own brewery, fell views, careful menu. Book well ahead. LA22 0NG.
Visit website4 miles east at Staveley. Brewery tap room with full range on tap, food, brewery tour available. Worth the drive on its own. The best craft beer day in the southern Lakes.
Visit websiteHawkshead village has Tabitha Twitchit's Bookshop (the National Trust's second-hand bookshop, in the former Beatrix Potter Gallery), the Hawkshead Relish Company (the famous local condiment brand), a small gallery, and several craft shops in the medieval square. No chains. Better browsing than most Lake District villages — and easy to fill an hour on a wet afternoon.
Disambiguation note: Hawkshead outdoor clothing was a separate brand that took its name from the village. Regatta bought the stores in 2007 and closed them in 2011, and the online shop has since gone too — this page is about the village itself.
Within reach
Four towns within 6 miles. Hawkshead is the central southern-Lakes base.
The Old Man, Tarn Hows, Bluebird at the Ruskin Museum.
Things to do in ConistonStock Ghyll Force, Loughrigg, Hayes Garden Centre.
Things to do in AmblesideLake cruises, boat hire, the World of Beatrix Potter.
Things to do in BownessThe train station, Orrest Head, Brockhole adventure park.
Things to do in WindermereFree, no sign-up. The planner times the day around the Wray Castle opening, the Grizedale activities, the Tarn Hows window and the weather.
Open the free Lakes PlannerCommon questions
Explore more
Towns within 6 miles of Hawkshead.
The Old Man, Tarn Hows, Bluebird at the Ruskin Museum.
Stock Ghyll Force, Loughrigg, Hayes Garden Centre.
Lake cruises, boat hire, the World of Beatrix Potter.
England's longest lake, Orrest Head, the boat hire capital.
