The Windermere Ferry pulls in and out of Far Sawrey all day, a cable-guided flat-bottomed boat that carries cars and foot passengers across to Bowness in about five minutes. It is the quick way in and out, and it has been the quick way in and out since at least the fifteenth century, though the cables are a more recent addition.
Far Sawrey sits on the hillside above the crossing, one of two adjoining hamlets — the other is Near Sawrey, half a mile up the road. Between them and Hawkshead, a mile and a half west, there isn't a great deal except fields, the wooded slope of Claife Heights, and the western shore of Windermere below.
The pub is the Cuckoo Brow Inn, a traditional Lakeland inn with a kitchen that has picked up AA rosettes. The chef, Loredan Gargalac, arrived by way of European hotels, which is not the usual route to a village inn between two hamlets. The food is seasonal British à la carte and built for people who have been walking — hearty, locally sourced from Lake District producers, with a vegan and vegetarian menu alongside it.
Lunch runs from noon to four, sandwiches from two to four, dinner from six to nine, and there's a breakfast menu and a Sunday lunch. The bar keeps three local real ales, among them Coniston Bluebird and Loweswater Gold, both from Cumbrian Legendary Ales.
Next door is St Peter's Church, Victorian and built in a large early English Gothic style. It seats four hundred, which is a lot of seating for two hamlets on a hillside.
Beatrix Potter worshipped here. Her farmhouse, Hill Top, is over in Near Sawrey — she bought it in 1905 — but she came to St Peter's, and she was an active member of the congregation until her death in 1943. The church has plaques and information about what she did for the area. The churchyard is quiet and looks out over open countryside.
Hill Top itself is now run by the National Trust and sits half a mile away, an easy walk from Far Sawrey. There's a village shop in Far Sawrey, and the shop at Near Sawrey is close enough that the two run into each other on foot.
Above all of it is Claife Heights, a wooded hillside with forest walks that climb to panoramic views over Windermere. It's the sort of walking you do from the door rather than driving to.
Getting here is either the ferry from Bowness or the B5285 from Hawkshead by car. Buses run from Hawkshead, but seasonally, so a car is the safer bet outside summer.
The two Sawreys have made a good living out of a woman who wrote about a rabbit, and they've done it quietly. The coaches go to Hill Top; the church next door, where she actually sat on Sundays, mostly gets people who came for the ferry and stayed for the walk.
