Northern fell character
Hesket Newmarket
A quiet Lake District village where community-owned beer, market-square history and walks into the Caldbeck Fells meet.
- Best for
- Community-owned beer and quieter fell walks
- Give it
- A village afternoon or a longer walking day
- Don't miss
- A locally brewed ale at the Old Crown
The Fox verdict
The village that kept its own pint
Come for a direct encounter with Hesket Newmarket's cooperative pub and brewery, then use the old market square as a springboard for the northern fells.
The Old Crown and the brewery behind it give this small village an unusually strong sense of purpose: both were bought cooperatively to preserve them. Add a traditional market cross, the Cumbria Way through nearby Caldbeck and walking objectives on High Pike and Knott, and Hesket Newmarket rewards visitors who prefer a focused place with a story to tell.
Where to go
Places in Hesket Newmarket
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesThe Old Crown
A traditional community cooperative pub serving a selection of Hesket Newmarket Brewery ales, plus unfussy food, games and a rear beer garden.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- centre of Hesket Newmarket
- Access
- Food service is limited and advance booking is advised.
Hesket Newmarket Market Cross
The market-square landmark that recalls Hesket Newmarket's former role as a market town and the name 'Hazel Bush Market'.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 15 minutes
- Locality
- traditional market square
Cumbria Way
A long-distance walking route through nearby Caldbeck; local paths can link a Hesket Newmarket walk to a section of the Way.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes for a local section
- Locality
- through nearby Caldbeck
Walks & outdoors
2 placesHigh Pike
One of the named Caldbeck Fells for which Hesket Newmarket serves as a walking base.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around four hours for a fell walk; route and conditions vary
- Locality
- Caldbeck Fells
Knott
A second named walking objective in the Caldbeck Fells, reached with Hesket Newmarket as a base.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow a full walking day; route and conditions vary
- Locality
- Caldbeck Fells
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Three ways to explore Hesket Newmarket
Signature outings
The village-owned pint
Try a Hesket Newmarket Brewery ale at the Old Crown, with the brewery next door.
Knott in the northern fells
Use Hesket Newmarket as a base for a longer outing to Knott in the Caldbeck Fells.
High Pike from Hesket
Set out for High Pike with Hesket Newmarket as your base in the quieter Caldbeck Fells.
The village story
Hesket Newmarket: beer, community and northern fells
Follow the few feet from brewhouse to bar, then open out through market history and onto the Caldbeck Fells.
A pint brewed and saved here
The Old Crown serves ales brewed a few feet away, in a converted barn beside the pub. Hesket Newmarket Brewery is next door, so a pint here brings the village's cooperative story close to hand.
The pub is the centre of the village, and the village owns it. In 2003 around 150 shareholders each put in £1,500 to buy the freehold, which by most accounts makes the Old Crown the first cooperative pub in the UK. The brewery had gone the same way four years earlier, turned cooperative in 1999 to stop it closing. Jim and Liz Fearnley had started it in that barn in 1988, and it is now the oldest surviving microbrewery in Cumbria.
Fell-named ales and pub comforts
The ales are named after the fells you can see from the village: Blencathra Bitter, Skiddaw Special Bitter, Catbells Pale Ale, Scafell Blonde.
The food is unfussy — steak and ale pie, scampi, and a Sunday lunch menu. The kitchen serves Tuesday to Sunday evenings and weekend lunchtimes; call to check availability and book. Dogs are welcome in the bar and the rear beer garden. There is a games room with a pool table and darts, plus live music and the occasional charity quiz.
Dickens passing through
Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins walked through in 1857, and Dickens described the Old Crown as a "ridiculous little inn."
From market square to northern fells
The cross is a clue to what the place used to be. Hesket Newmarket was once a proper market town — the name comes from "Hazel Bush Market" — and the village still arranges itself around the square where the trading happened.
The walking is the other reason to come. The village sits under the Caldbeck Fells, the quieter northern side of the range sometimes called the back of Skiddaw, and it makes a good base for High Pike and Knott. The Cumbria Way runs through nearby Caldbeck.
The road in and the pint waiting
Getting here takes some doing. There is no railway and no regular bus, so it is minor roads off the B5305 or the lanes through nearby Caldbeck.
The beer, though, is the thing. Order a pint from the brewery next door and it was made in the barn beside you, by a brewery the village bought to keep, in a pub the village bought to keep it open.
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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 Old Crown — theoldcrownpub.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Hesket Newmarket Market Cross — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Cumbria Way — cumbriaway.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- High Pike — ukhillwalking.com other published source
- Knott — ukhillwalking.com other published source