Eden Valley histories
Greystoke
A compact estate village where a medieval church, a centuries-old inn and mixed woodland meet rolling country between Penrith and Ullswater.
- Best for
- Village history and quiet woodland walks
- Give it
- Half a day, longer with Ullswater
- Don't miss
- St Andrew's collegiate church
The Fox verdict
Small village, unusually deep history
Greystoke rewards a measured visit built around the green, the church and the wooded landscape beyond.
The appeal is concentration rather than bustle: a Grade I collegiate church, an inn whose story reaches back to 1511, a shop on the green and mixed woodland close by. The private castle and its park give the village historical weight without becoming a visitor attraction.
Where to go
Places in Greystoke
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesThe Boot & Shoe Inn
A coaching inn dating to 1511, with real ales and a long-standing place at the centre of village life.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- on the village green
- Access
- Booking is essential for meals.
St Andrew's Church
A Grade I church with thirteenth-century origins, medieval collegiate history and a tower once used as a refuge from raiders.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- within Greystoke village
- Access
- The linked listing documents the church's historic fabric rather than visitor arrangements.
Ullswater Way
A nearby walking option at Ullswater, reached by continuing south from Greystoke towards the lake.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 150 minutes for a chosen section
- Locality
- at Ullswater
- Access
- Choose a formal access point using the Official site before travel.
Food & drink
1 placeVillage Shop on the Green
Greystoke's small shop on the green, providing a practical village stop alongside the inn.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 15 minutes
- Locality
- on the village green
Walks & outdoors
1 placeGreystoke Forest
Mixed woodland around Greystoke that offers the village's principal longer walking option.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- woodland around Greystoke
- Access
- Check current woodland access and choose a confirmed public trailhead before setting out.
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Three ways to explore Greystoke
Signature outings
A Practical Stop on the Green
Call at Greystoke's small shop on the green, a practical village stop alongside the inn.
Church, College and Refuge
Look from St Andrew's thirteenth-century origins to the tower that sheltered villagers from Scottish raiders.
The Woodland Beyond the Village
Trade the green for a longer walk through the mixed woodland surrounding Greystoke.
The village story
Greystoke Village Guide
An old inn, a collegiate church and an estate landscape shaped by nearly a millennium of local history.
The Inn on the Green
The Boot & Shoe Inn sits on the green and has been serving in one form or another since 1511, which makes it older than most of the reasons people give for visiting the Lake District. The name comes from a former Duke of Norfolk who lived at Greystoke Castle and wore a boot on one foot and a shoe on the other, the better to ease the gout. Whether that is a story the pub tells about itself or a fact of local record hardly matters after five centuries. It is the name now.
The kitchen changes its menu often and keeps specials going day to day. You can get Cumberland sausage and mash, or a butternut squash tagine if you would rather not, or a doorstop sandwich at lunch, or one of the homemade pizzas, which you can take away. Sunday roast runs 12:30 to 2:30 and again in the evening, with the menu changing week to week. There are real ales and a children's menu. Booking is essential, which for a village pub is either a good sign or an inconvenience, depending on how far you've driven.
The Green and the Estate
There is a shop on the green as well. That is the amenities, more or less, which for a place this size is a fair showing.
The village sits in the Eden Valley, six miles west of Penrith, in the gently rolling country between the town and Ullswater. Around it are Greystoke Forest, a spread of mixed woodland, and the castle park, which runs to three thousand acres. The castle itself is private, but you can see it from the road, and seeing it from the road is most of what anyone does.
Castle, Barony and Collegiate Church
A castle has stood on the spot since 1069, when Llyulph de Greystoke put up a timber pele tower. Stone replaced timber, and in 1346 Edward III granted permission to castellate the place properly. The present building went up in the sixteenth century. The barony goes back to a grant from William the Conqueror, and Greystoke turns up in the Norman records accordingly.
St Andrew's Church is Grade I listed and stands on thirteenth-century foundations. In 1382 William, the fourteenth Baron Greystoke, refounded it as a collegiate church, one of the few Cumbria kept. The tower did double duty as a refuge when the Scots came raiding, which they did often enough for a village to build that expectation into its church. Most of the present fabric is sixteenth and seventeenth century, in the Perpendicular style.
A Name, a Legend and the Way Out
The place name means grey tree stump, which is a modest thing to name an estate after. Edgar Rice Burroughs was less modest with it: he made Greystoke the ancestral home of Tarzan, whose formal title is Lord Greystoke. The village has produced one castle, one collegiate church, and one fictional ape-man, and it is the ape-man most people have heard of.
For walking there is the forest, the edge of the castle park, and the Ullswater Way, which you can pick up heading south toward the lake five miles off. There is no railway and no regular bus, so you arrive by car on the B5288 from Penrith, and once you're here the loudest thing is usually the wood.
Stay around Lake District
Make a longer stay of it
Travel Fox holiday homes around Lake District, linked directly to their property pages.
A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- The Boot & Shoe Inn — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- St Andrew's Church — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Village Shop on the Green — greystokevillage.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Greystoke Forest — woodlandtrust.org.uk national body or asset manager
- Ullswater Way — lakedistrict.gov.uk statutory register or public authority