Things to Do in Keswick (Cumbria, England) in 2024!

Keswick has ancient roots and sits just in from the northeast shore of Derwentwater, a lake of staggering beauty. The lake is in an excellent pot of hills that you can climb directly from the town. Meanwhile, the Derwent Launch will flutter you off on a cruise. Keswick’s story starts long before the first tourists showed up in the 18th century. The Castlerigg Stone Circle dates back to 5,000 years old and the town’s market has been selling since the 1200s. In the 16th century, an extremely pure deposit of graphite was found in nearby Borrowdale. For the next 100 years, Keswick would have Europe’s pencil industry. The Derwent Cumberland Pencil Company still has relations to Keswick and runs a museum in the town. Below are the best things to do in Keswick. Keswick is surely one of the amazing cities in Europe to visit.

Top 10 things to do in Keswick

Let us have a look at the best things to do in Keswick:

1. Derwentwater
2. Castlerigg Stone Circle
3. Catbells
4. Keswick Museum And Art Gallery
5. Theatre By The Lake
6. Hope Park
7. Derwent Pencil Museum
8. Moot Hall
9. Keswick Launch
10. Lodore Falls

1. Derwentwater

Ten minutes from the town centre, travellers can find this Keswick’s headline attraction. This place also has a shoreline mostly managed by the National Trust. The lake is approximately three miles long, with an eight-mile perimeter path that you can do in half a day. Try to get up early on a clear summer’s morning to click a photo of the lake’s mirror-like shine. Also, do not pass up the opportunity to take the 50-minute cruise on a Derwent Launch. This is one of the best things to do in Keswick.

Also read: Best Things to Do in Torquay (Devon, England)

2. Castlerigg Stone Circle

It is hard to imagine a prehistoric monument in a more grand location than the Castlerigg Stone Circle. You will find the place surrounded by the formidable fells of Skiddaw, Blencathra, Castlerigg Fell, High Rigg and Clough Head. You can also understand how prehistoric residents might have decided this was a very important place. Castlerigg is believed to have been a gathering place, where groups travelling from the coast in the west and the Eden Valley in the east would have met. Do not miss on the prehistoric monument and also best thing to do in Keswick for history lovers.

3. Catbells

On Derwentwater’s western shore, travellers can find the Lake District’s most treasured fells. At around 451 metres, Catbells has a decent height and a moderate grassy slope that can be undertaken by walkers of almost any age and fitness. You can crest Catbells on a circular path that climbs from the lakeshore and takes around three hours to complete. It also depends on how often you pause to soak up the panoramas. From the top, you will be amazed by the clear panoramas of Derwentwater and its islands.

4. Keswick Museum and Art Gallery

The town’s museum dates back to 19th century and hopped around a few venues in Keswick like the Moot Hall, before arriving at this purpose-built in 1898. The museum reopened in 2014 after one and a half years reconstruction backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It has earned a reputation for its unique displays. One is the Musical Stones of Skiddaw, an eight-octave rock instrument using parts of exceptionally hard hornfels, a metamorphic rock quarried on Skiddaw. If you are an art lover, then this is a must-visit and best things to do in Keswick.

Also read: The National Gallery In London – Paradise Of Art

5. Theatre By The Lake

People might have not expected to encounter such a highly-regarded theatre in a place as remote as Keswick. But the Theatre by the Lake has a resident company of up to 14 actors, performing a collection of six plays during the season from May to November. The theatre also offers one new play every year and the Theatre By The Lake’s Christmas productions are a family treat in December.

6. Hope Park

Between Keswick and the lake, people can find Hope Park with a mosaic of gardens and family leisure facilities. The park takes benefit of the majestic scenery on Derwentwater. In the 19th century, this park was empty space, inhabited by the horses that pulled the vehicles carrying tourists from the train station to Keswick’s hotels. The park was decorated in the 1920s by the landowner Sir Percy Hope, and the sweet delicate garden on the west side was once his wife, Lady Hope’s private garden.

7. Derwent Pencil Museum

Keswick has big graphite sediments that have been utilised since the 16th century. Pencil -production started on a small scale, but increased rapidly into the 19th century and soon became industrialised. The factory for the Derwent Company inaugurated in 1832, and the company was here until 2007 when the base was relocated to Workington. The Pencil Museum has a portrayal of the Seathwaite Mine where graphite was found for the first time in the 1550s. It also charts the history of pencil-making in the town.

Also Read: London’s Best Museums: Museums in London, England

8. Moot Hall

The Moot Hall is an assembly building overlooking Keswick’s Market Square. The Moot Hall has slate walls and arrayings and quoins painted with lime-wash. The building standing here now is from the year 1813, but there has been an assembly hall/courthouse on this plot since the 1570s. The bars on the windows on the ground floor suggest that the Moot Hall may have been used as a prison at one time, but for much of the 19th century the hall contained Keswick Museum.

9. Keswick Launch

Derwentwater’s neighbouring fells are particularly beautiful from lake’s surface and justify to be enjoyed on a cruise. The Keswick Ship sails from the Keswick Jetty 13 times a day. The cruise lasts for about 50 minutes and makes eight stops around the lakeshore. This gives the travellers the chance to get off at a beauty spot for a picnic or visit landmarks like the Lodore Falls, the Lingholm Estate or the picturesque Ashness Bridge.

Also Read: Best Things to Do in Plymouth (Devon, England)

10. Lodore Falls

Coming to the end of top things to do in Keswick, the Lodore Falls drop 30 metres down a steep waterfall from the Watendlath Tarn to the Borrowdale Valley. The waterfall was first put on the map by Victorian tourists and is all the more magnificent for the huge fieldstones along the beck. One should visit the place during winters when there is a real flow roaring over the rocks. Furthermore, after increased dry spells in summer, the flow does not quite have the same power.

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