Lyth Valley quiet
Underbarrow
A village between damson orchards and limestone scars, with a characterful inn and wide southern Lakeland views.
- Best for
- Limestone walks and a country-pub finish
- Give it
- A relaxed half day
- Don't miss
- The Mushroom shelter on Scout Scar
The Fox verdict
A village with a broad limestone horizon
Underbarrow works best as a quiet base for the Lyth Valley and the scars rising above it.
Start beside Chapel Beck or over a meal at The Black Labrador, then choose between the panoramas of Scout Scar, the quieter line of Cunswick Scar and the flat orchard paths of the Lyth Valley. The appeal is the contrast between an understated village and an unusually open landscape.
Where to go
Places in Underbarrow
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesThe Black Labrador
A dog-friendly 17th-century country inn with a traditional main bar, a semi-outdoor summer area and home-cooked food made with locally sourced ingredients.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- on the Kendal–Windermere back road through Underbarrow
Lyth Valley
A low-level walking option where flat paths thread through damson orchards below Scout Scar and continue towards Crosthwaite.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- on the valley floor below Scout Scar
Cunswick Scar
A less-visited limestone escarpment running parallel to Scout Scar, suited to walkers seeking similar open views with fewer people.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- on the escarpment parallel to Scout Scar
Walks & outdoors
1 placeScout Scar
A 235-metre limestone escarpment with panoramic views towards the Lake District fells and Morecambe Bay, plus the hexagonal Mushroom shelter at its southern summit.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 2 hours
- Locality
- rising directly above Underbarrow
History & heritage
1 placeAll Saints' Church, Underbarrow
A church built in 1869 on a long-established worship site, with a chalice dating from 1609 and original oil lamps still hanging from the roof.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 30 minutes
- Locality
- beside Chapel Beck in Underbarrow
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Three ways to explore Underbarrow
Signature outings
Reach the Mushroom
Walk onto Scout Scar for the Lakeland fells, Morecambe Bay and the hexagonal Mushroom shelter at the southern summit.
Finish at the Labrador
Take a table at the dog-friendly 17th-century inn for home-cooked food made with locally sourced ingredients.
Meet Underbarrow's old faith
Visit the 1869 church beside fast-flowing Chapel Beck, where a 1609 chalice and original oil lamps survive.
The village story
Underbarrow Village Guide
Two black Labradors, a beckside church and the limestone country above the Lyth Valley give Underbarrow its quiet character.
The pub named for two Labradors
The pub in Underbarrow is called The Black Labrador, and it is named after two dogs. The owners have two pet black labradors, and when they took the place over they renamed it — partly the dogs, partly to stop people confusing it with the Punch Bowl Inn in Crosthwaite next door, which is what this pub used to be called too. So the village lost a Punch Bowl and gained a Labrador, and the two of them now sit in neighbouring villages.
It is a 17th-century inn on the quiet back road between Kendal and Bowness-on-Windermere, with three separate areas including the traditional main bar and a semi-outdoor summer space. Dogs are, as you'd expect from the name, very welcome. It was CAMRA Pub of the Season in 2010.
Ale, home cooking and village essentials
The beer holds up. Hawkshead Bitter is the permanent ale, with two changing guests that have included Loweswater Gold, Collie Wobbles, Dent Aviator and Jennings Cumberland. The food is home-cooked with locally sourced ingredients: steak and ale pie, fish and chips, chicken, hake, a portobello mushroom with goat's cheese. Sticky toffee pudding and chocolate brownies to finish.
There are no shops. For those you drive the five miles east to Kendal, or over to Bowness-on-Windermere the other way.
From Chapel Beck to Scout Scar
The church is All Saints', built in 1869 on a site where people have worshipped for close to a thousand years. It stands beside Chapel Beck, which runs fast past the churchyard. The chalice inside dates from 1609. The original oil lamps still hang from the roof, and nobody has got round to converting them to electric.
The reason to be here, though, is above the village. Scout Scar is a limestone escarpment rising 235 metres directly over Underbarrow, and it is one of the classic short walks out of Kendal. From the top you get the Lakeland fells one way and Morecambe Bay the other.
The Mushroom and the limestone horizons
At the southern summit there is a hexagonal stone shelter that everyone calls the Mushroom. It was built in 1912 by local effort as a memorial to King George V, and it holds a toposcope that names the fells laid out in front of you. It is a distinctive Kendal landmark, and it has been sheltering walkers from the same weather for over a century.
Below, on the valley floor, the walking flattens right out. The Lyth Valley is damson country, and the low-level paths thread through the orchards toward Crosthwaite. Cunswick Scar runs parallel to Scout Scar a little further off, less visited, if you want the escarpment views without the company.
Lyth Valley setting and getting here
Underbarrow sits in the Lyth Valley, five miles west of Kendal, with the scar above it to the east and the damson orchards below to the west. The Domesday surveyors don't seem to have singled it out — it lay within the old manor of Strickland Roger — so its record is quieter than most.
There is no railway and no regular bus. You get here by car, on the minor road from Kendal via Brigsteer, or up the Lyth Valley from Bowness. When the damsons blossom in spring, the whole valley floor goes white, and people drive out from Kendal just to look at it.
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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 Black Labrador — theblacklabrador.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- All Saints' Church, Underbarrow — achurchnearyou.com national body or asset manager
- Scout Scar — lakedistrict.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- Lyth Valley — visitlakedistrict.com operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Cunswick Scar — planning.data.gov.uk statutory register or public authority