Keswick

Keswick was chartered as a market town in 1276 by King Edward I, originally centred around the monastic sheep farms that had been settled in the area to trade wool and related products. The town has since evolved endlessly, yet its market never left and it has now been running continuously for almost 750 years, making it one of the oldest markets in Europe. Having won several awards, including that of best outdoor market in the country, Keswick market today consists of around 70 stalls selling a range of local produce, fresh food, and artisan handicrafts. Stretching from historic Moot Hall, a 19th-century stone and slate building that dominates the town’s somnolent skyline, down the entirety of the medieval market square, Keswick Market runs as a weekly Saturday ritual throughout the year. From February to December it operates on Thursdays too. The markets are the perfect way to acquaint yourself with the town’s heritage, culinary offerings, and topography.

First opening in 1898, the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery is an eclectic cornucopia of local histories, combining 20,000 pieces of artwork, literary, geological and entomological samples, and various curios to piece together a tale of the town and its surrounding area. Particularly of note are the Musical Stones of Skiddaw, a number of lithophones built across two centuries around the town using hornfel stones from nearby Skiddaw mountain; the mummified remains of a 700-year-old cat that was found in the walls of a local church in the 19th century; and penny-farthing bike.

The museum is built in Fitz Park, an award-winning, 28-acre green space first landscaped in the Victorian period for recreational use, which is worth strolling around too. And, if you want to discover more about Keswick’s town history, the Derwent Pencil Museum is a one-of-a-kind attraction that pays homage to the town’s graphite and pencil industries. Opened in 1981, its collection includes the world’s first pencil, one of the biggest colouring pencils in the world, and Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee pencil.

One of the most scenically-situated theatres in the world, Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake was opened on the shores of Derwentwater in 1999 to bring the magic of the stage to the sleepy market town. Putting on six summer shows, a Christmas show, and two spring shows, past productions have included Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. Various arts festivals are also held in the theatre throughout the year, such as Words by the Water, Keswick Film Festival, and Jennings Keswick Jazz Festival. To see the full schedule of events, visit their website.

Another notable cultural venue in Keswick is the Alhambra, a gorgeous independent, Art Deco cinema originally opened in 1913 and in continuous use ever since, making it one of the oldest cinemas in the UK. The cinema is open every day of the year barring Christmas Day; see their full schedule of events here.

Poet Thomas Gray once described Keswick as “the vale of Elysium in all its verdure”. Privy to what is truly some of the most breathtaking, soul-stirring scenery in Europe, Keswick is a hiker’s paradise rich with roots springing off the town’s boundaries and deep into the surrounding wild. About half an hour east of Keswick is the Castlerigg stone circles, a mystery-drenched Neolithic monument that is perhaps the most famous in the nation behind only Stonehenge. Friar’s Crag is another nearby landmark, a small, rocky outcrop where monks from the friary on St. Herbert’s Island used to gather. From the crag are beautiful views of the Jaws of Borrowdale, which Alfred Wainwright described as “the loveliest square mile in Lakeland”.

The Derwentwater circular will take you through serene, mountain-foot woodland along the “Queen of the Lake’s” 18km (10 mile) periphery, while those fancying a more challenging journey can summit mighty Mount Skiddaw, a popular route since Victorian times that will take you 931m (3054ft) into the skies to what is England’s sixth-highest peak. From the mountaintop you will get sweeping views of not only Lakeland, but all the way to the North Pennines, the Yorkshire Tales, the Isle of Man, Scotland’s Isle of Arran, Snowdonia National Park, and Slieve Meelmore in Northern Ireland.