Howtown

The hotel and tearoom at the road end

Howtown Hotel now offers exclusive-use weekend stays for groups. Its current accommodation includes en-suite rooms and a TV lounge; it no longer takes individual hotel bookings. The building has stood at the road end for more than a century, but visitors should use the hotel’s current terms when planning a stay.

Group bookings include meals, while passing visitors can use the Howtown Tearoom during its published season. It offers soup, sandwiches, sausage rolls, scones and cakes; check opening times before relying on it for a walk.

Arrival by water, onward on foot

Getting to Howtown is half the point. It sits on the eastern shore of Ullswater, and the eastern shore has no through road — a minor lane runs in from Pooley Bridge and then stops, because south of here there is nowhere for it to go. You can arrive by boat. The Ullswater Steamer has been crossing the lake for over 150 years, and the Lady of the Lake, still in service, was built in 1877. Howtown pier is the middle of its three stops, between Pooley Bridge and Glenridding. There is no railway. Check current boat and seasonal bus timetables, or reach the hamlet by the lane or on foot.

Walking is the main business here. The Howtown-to-Glenridding shorepath is the classic Lake District day out: 6.5 miles along the lake through woods, bays and open fellside. The route is promoted by the Ullswater Association. Pairing the walk with a steamer journey makes a linear day out; check the current sailing times before setting off.

Fells around an unfilled hamlet

If you want height rather than distance, Hallin Fell rises straight up behind the hamlet — 388 metres, a short pull for a summit that hands you the whole length of Ullswater. The 20-mile Ullswater Way passes through, and the Steel Knotts and Pikeawassa ridge runs along the top of Martindale above the village, if you fancy the harder line.

There is no general shop. There is no church in the hamlet either; St Martin's, the Grade II*-listed old church at Martindale, is about 1.0 mile away in a straight line, with a longer walking route. Howtown is a hamlet in the older sense — a handful of buildings enclosed by the steep flanks of Hallin Fell and the Martindale ridge, with the lake in front and the fells behind, and not much else asked of it.

The luxury of fewer decisions

That small scale is part of the appeal. A place with a hotel, tearoom, pier and a lane ending near the lake still leaves the day’s main decisions: which path to take and how to get back. Check the last steamer and any seasonal bus before committing to a linear walk.