Graham’s Walks Vitals
- Distance: 4.3 miles/7 km
- Elevation: 380 ft/115 m
- Difficulty: Easy
- Start: Gatesgarth Farm – the link takes you to the car park on the road. If this is full there is normally an overflow at the back of the farm.
- Graham’s Cafe: You will pass Syke Farm Tea Room on this route.
- Classification: None
The Maps
The Area
This route follows the shoreline of Buttermere. As you walk along the eastern shore, you will pass beneath one of only two buildings on the lake. This was the seat of the Hassness Estate owned by the Benson family, who were wealthy mill owners from Manchester. The house was built as a retreat for the family in the Victorian era, when the Lake District became popular.
Hassness Country House is currently in use as a base for walking holidays.
The Benson family used to like to promenade along the lake shore, but unfortunately there was a part of the shoreline that they couldn’t get around without a climb.
What were the Bensons to do? They built a tunnel, hand-chiselled through the rock, a tunnel that is still available for us to use and something of a curiosity.
The second building is at the south-eastern end of Buttermere. It’s a white single-storey building sitting below Haystacks, Green Crags and Fleetwith Pike. This makes for a dramatic scene which has been photographed by many. This is Char Cottage which was used as a base for people fishing for Arctic Char. The Arctic Char is a survivor from over 10,000 years ago when retreating ice sheets stranded their ancestors in deep cold glacial lakes such as Buttermere and another seven of the nearby lakes and tarns. The char were fished for food and apparently taste similar to trout and salmon.
Why start at Gatesgarth Farm?
There are four main routes into the Buttermere valley, three of them over passes, one of them is via Lorton from Cockermouth. There are also a couple of routes from West Cumbria also via Lorton.
If you are travelling into Buttermere via the A66 westward from the Keswick area Google Maps will probably direct you to Braithwaite via Stair and Little Town. This route will take you via the Newlands Pass and long winding stretches of single track road, some with steep descents to the side. It’s a glorious road with fabulous views if you are a confident driver and traffic is light. It’s a terrible route to follow if it’s busy. This route can be massively frustrating when busy as cars and vans try to manoeuvre between the sparsely spaced passing places. I’ve found myself, on several occasions, having to get out of my car to coach inexperienced drivers through a tricky narrow section. I’ve also been approached by several shaken drivers, in Buttermere, enquiring about alternative routes out.
Newlands Pass will drop you straight into Buttermere village where there is quite good parking, however, these car parks do get full on busy days.
A better alternative for the less confident driver and for busier days is Whinlatter Pass which takes you over the fells from Braithwaite to Lorton. This road has long been used for the transportation of wood from the forestry in the area making it wide with ample passing places. The route from Lorton to Buttermere does include some single track sections and takes you alongside Crummock Water where it can be narrow and is renowned for inconsiderate parking. The road from Lorton is the route you would take if you were driving in from Cockermouth. This route also takes you to Buttermere village first.
My preferred route to get to Buttermere from the Keswick side is to drive down Borrowdale and over Honister Pass. This road isn’t for the faint-hearted, but is fine for most competent drivers. At the top of the pass is Honister Quarry which is still in operation meaning that the road is well maintained and able to take trucks carrying slate.
The Honister route will drop you into Gatesgarth at the southern end of Buttermere where there is ample parking at the farm.
The Honister Pass option is not much further than the Newlands Valley route but much better for the blood pressure.
Starting the walk at this end of the lake means that you will arrive in Buttermere Village, where there are several options for refreshments, about halfway around. There is also an option for refreshment at the cabin at Gatesgarth Farm.
The Walk
Not sure this walk really needs a description because it is as simple as follows:
- Join the path along the shore of the lake.
- Walk to Buttermere village.
- Return on the path along the other shoreline.
There are some more detailed directions that you might like, so here goes:
Gatesgarth Farm to Syke Farm Tea Room on the Eastern Shoreline
Having parked your vehicle, or got off the bus at Gatesgarth Farm, head out onto the road towards Buttermere village.
There is a short distance of road walking until you reach the lake.
You’ll soon reach a path between the road and the lake that keeps closer to the lake as the road turns to the left.
Follow this path as it works its way along the shoreline of the lake for a couple of miles.
Partway along the path goes through the Hassness Tunnel. The tunnel is dark but only short and you shouldn’t need any lights.
As you reach the end of the lake there is a fork in the path – one which goes to the left around the lake, the other takes you straight on and into Syke Farm where the tea room is. There’s a wiggle in the middle of the path before you reach the farm taking you right over some rocks and then left.
Syke Farm Tea Room to Gatesgarth Farm via the Western Shoreline
Syke Farm sits on the edge of Buttermere Village.
Head towards the road from the tea room and turn left down the hill towards The Bridge Hotel.
Take the lane down the side of the Bridge Hotel and head straight on following the signs for the lake. This should take you on a lane with the Buttermere Court Hotel on your right.
This lane will take you to the lake where you will again follow the shoreline.
Having reached the shoreline, the route takes you across a footbridge from where you will reach the base of Sourmilk Gill which is worth a bit of an explore. Note the small name difference from the valley in Easedale which is Sourmilk Ghyll.
Continue along the shoreline until you reach a gate beyond the end of the lake with another path branching off it.
Go through the gate across the back of Buttermere to Gatesgarth across Peggy’s Bridge.
Alternatives and Extensions
You could do this route the other way around. We prefer it this way because we like to have a swim at Horse Close near to where Comb Beck enters the lake.
As you cross the river just beyond Sourmilk Gill there is a path that leads up to Bleaberry Tarn. From the tarn you can work your way down on another path to the end of the lake. There are some fabulous views from this route, but it does make it a more tricky walk.
Comb Beck waterfalls are worth a bit of an explore as they descend to Horse Close.
You can miss out Buttermere Village by using the left-hand of the fork at the north-western end of the lake. This will continue you along the shoreline.
There are numerous fells that surround Buttermere, I’ll cover those in other guides.
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