Grasmere is a lakeside village in the Lake District National Park, best known as the home to poet William Wordsworth

Get in

Buses run regularly from Keswick, Windermere and Ambleside.

Get around

Grasmere is a very small village and very easy to get around on foot. However, during the summer months it can be very crowded with coach-tour parties. This can make it difficult to find a parking space for those on driving holidays around the Lake District.

See

• 1 Dove Cottage, Dove Cottage, LA22 9SH, ☏ +44 15394 35544, enquiries@wordsworth.org.uk. Home to William Wordsworth  

Do

• Walk around the small, pretty lake.
• Greenhead Ghyll, Grasmere Shop, LA22 9SW. 
• Easdale Tarn. 
• The Coffin Trail. 

Buy

• 1 Co-op Supermarket, 229 Broadgate. Daily 7AM to 10PM. Small supermarket. (updated Oct 2017)
• Sam Read's Bookshop, Broadgate House, Ambleside, LA22 9SY, ☏ +44 15394 35374. 
• 2 Heaton Cooper Studio, ☏ +44 15394 35280. Art gallery and shop established Alfred Heaton Cooper in 1905, and still run by his descendants. (updated Oct 2017)

Eat

• Grasmere Gingerbread, Church Cottage, Grasmere, Ambleside, LA22 9SW, ☏ +44 15394 35428, sarahnelson@grasmeregingerbread.co.uk. 
• 1 Faeryland, Red Bank Road. 10AM - %PM, waether permitting. Tea garden and boat hire. They blend their own tea. (updated Oct 2017)

Drink

• 1 Tweedies, Red Bank Rd, Grasmere LA22 9SW, ☏ +44 1539 435300. Good choice of beers and food, mixed reviews on quality, service and value for money. Has rooms. B&B double £90. (updated Jul 2020)

Sleep

• Thorney How Independent Hostel Grasmere, LA22 9QW (just under Helm Crag, right on the Coast to Coast), ☏ +44 15394 35597. One of first YHA hostels in England, now an independent hostel since 2011, owned and run by Taylor and Carolyn Nuttall who live on site. Thorney How is the small outcrop in the grounds of this Grade 2 listed old farmhouse. There are a number of small bedrooms as well as more traditional bunk rooms. The hostel can sleep up to 50 people if the bunk room dormitories are full. Coffee, tea, cakes and drinks are part a drop-in cafe. Also on offer eve meals and breakfasts if use of the self-catering kitchen is too much. Local beers abound including the regular draft beer as part of the hostel licence. (updated Jul 2019)
• Daffodil Hotel (on the edge of Grasmere lake), ☏ +44 15394 63550. A 4 star hotel with onsite spa and restaurant. (updated Jul 2019)
• Rockwood. Is an example of a fine traditionally built lakeland residence, which sleeps 10-12 and is 10 mins quiet walk from the centre of the village. 
• Heron Beck Guest House, Off Keswick Road, Grasmere, Ambleside, ☏ +44 15394 35272. Check-in: 4PM, check-out: 10AM. 4-star accommodation, views over private gardens reaching out to the nearby fells. £40. 
• Grasmere Hotel, Broadgate, Grasmere LA22 9TA, ☏ +44 1539 435277. Smart upscale hotel in a Victorian house with great dining. Open Feb-Dec, no children under 10. B&B double £130. (updated Jun 2020)
• Oak Bank Hotel (next to Grasmere Hotel) had a great reputation but in 2020 was closed and for sale.
• Splurge at 1 Forest Side, Keswick Rd, Grasmere LA229RN (on A591), ☏ +44 1539 435250. Fabulous hotel in a Victorian mansion. Great style, service, comfort and outstanding dining. B&B double £240. (updated Jun 2020)

Go next

• Northwest to Keswick
• South to Ambleside and Windermere
• Northeast to Penrith