Ullswater, unhurried
Watermillock
A scattered lakeshore community where a meadow-side inn, a long-distance path and the open fells set the pace.
- Best for
- Quiet lake views and low-key walking
- Give it
- A slow half day
- Don't miss
- The western-shore stretch of the Ullswater Way
The Fox verdict
Come for Ullswater without the bustle
Watermillock rewards visitors who are content with a scattered community, an undeveloped shore and the fells beyond.
Make the landscape the main event: follow the Ullswater Way, take the short ascent of Great Mell Fell, pause at All Saints' Church and finish over Cumbrian food at the Brackenrigg Inn.
Your picks, your pace
Make Watermillock yours
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Local signatures
3 placesThe Brackenrigg Inn
An 18th-century Cumbrian inn with an Ullswater-facing terrace, locally sourced seasonal food, on-site ales and dog-friendly hospitality.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Suggested plan allocation: around 75 minutes
- Locality
- Watermillock
Ullswater Way
The 20-mile circular lake walk passes through Watermillock, giving walkers a way to follow Ullswater beyond the village.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Suggested plan allocation: around 105 minutes for a local section
- Locality
- passing through Watermillock
Great Mell Fell
A rounded, isolated 537-metre fell visible from Watermillock, with a short ascent rewarded by panoramic views.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Suggested plan allocation: around 105 minutes
- Locality
- inland from Watermillock
History & heritage
2 placesAll Saints' Church, Watermillock
A parish church with 12th-century origins in the medieval parish of Greystoke; the present building is largely Victorian and serves Watermillock's scattered lakeshore community.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Suggested plan allocation: around 30 minutes
- Locality
- Watermillock lakeshore community
Another Place, The Lake
A lakeshore hotel at Watermillock on the former Rampsbeck Hotel site, with views across Ullswater and the fells.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Suggested plan allocation: around 60 minutes
- Locality
- Watermillock lakeshore
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On the map
Watermillock at a glance
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Three ways to explore Watermillock
Signature outings
The Brackenrigg terrace
Pair Cumbrian cooking and on-site ales with a terrace looking across six acres of meadow to Ullswater.
All Saints' Church, Watermillock
Find 12th-century parish origins in a largely Victorian church serving Watermillock's scattered lakeshore community.
Another Place, The Lake
Set beside Ullswater at Watermillock, this hotel occupies the former Rampsbeck Hotel site and looks towards the lake and fells.
The village story
Watermillock, from Inn Terrace to Open Fell
The original Travel Fox story moves from the Brackenrigg Inn into a scattered landscape shaped by Ullswater, walking and quiet.
The Inn Above the Lake
The terrace at the Brackenrigg Inn looks down six acres of meadow to Ullswater, and on a warm afternoon it does most of the work of selling the place. It is an 18th-century coaching inn, once independent, now part of the Another Place group that runs the lakeside hotel five minutes' walk downhill. The kitchen cooks Cumberland sausage, locally caught trout, a cheese and onion pie, and a Sunday roast that comes as beef, turkey, pork or nut roast with all the trimmings. Finish with sticky toffee pudding, which in this part of Cumbria is close to compulsory.
The beer is brewed on site — Brackenrigg Bitter and Ullswater Blonde — and there is a long-term plan to reestablish the microbrewery properly in the converted stable block. On Friday evenings from half past eight there is live acoustic music. Dogs are welcome. There are seven en-suite rooms if you decide the terrace is worth staying for.
A Scattered Shore and Its Paths
That is more or less the village. Watermillock is not a village in the sense of a street with houses on it; it is a scattered community strung along the western shore of Ullswater, three miles south of Pooley Bridge. There is no through road on this stretch and no railway, and no regular bus. You arrive by the A592, which runs the western shore between Pooley Bridge and Glenridding, or, in season, by Ullswater Steamer, which stops near Watermillock on request — there is no permanent pier here, so you flag it down.
The compensation for all this quiet is the lake and the fells. The shore path is the flattest and most accessible walk on Ullswater, running along the water toward Glenridding one way and Pooley Bridge the other. It forms part of the Ullswater Way, the 20-mile circular that loops the whole lake and passes through the village. For something with more effort in it, Great Mell Fell rises to 537 metres just inland — a rounded, isolated hill, a short climb, and a panorama at the top that repays it.
Fells, Shore and Parish
The open fells of Gowbarrow and Great Mell dominate everything you can see. The lakeshore itself is largely undeveloped, which is unusual for a lake this famous.
All Saints' Church serves the lakeshore community, its parishioners spread thin along the water. Its origins are 12th-century, when Watermillock lay within the large medieval parish of Greystoke, though the building you see now is mostly Victorian. There is no Domesday entry of its own; the place was simply part of Greystoke's considerable holdings.
Why Quiet Is the Point
For shopping you go elsewhere — Pooley Bridge or Penrith — because there is nothing here to shop in, and that is rather the point. The most significant thing to happen to Watermillock in recent memory was the opening of Another Place in 2017, on the old Rampsbeck Hotel site, one of the larger arrivals in Cumbrian hospitality in years.
But most days nothing happens at all, which is why people come. You sit on the terrace, the meadow runs down to the water, and a steamer works its way up the lake toward Glenridding without hurrying.
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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 Brackenrigg Inn — visitlakedistrict.com operator, sector body or destination organisation
- All Saints' Church, Watermillock — achurchnearyou.com national body or asset manager
- Ullswater Way — lakedistrict.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- Great Mell Fell — woodlandtrust.org.uk national body or asset manager
- Another Place, The Lake — another.place operator, sector body or destination organisation