Lane Head Apartment:
Cumbria - the Lake District Self Catering Accommodation

The village of Bolton Low Houses is situated close to the small town of Wigton in West Cumbria.  We are equidistant (12 miles) from Carlisle, ‘the great border city’ to the north and Cockermouth, birthplace of the poet William Wordsworth, towards the south.   Cockermouth abounds in restaurants to suit all tastes and is a great place to stop for a meal.  The border to the Lake District National Park is just seven miles away and an easy drive.  The closest entry points are the Caldbeck Fells (still one of our favourite areas in the entire Lake District), the Skiddaw range of hills or, slightly further along the A66, the bustling town of Keswick with its backdrop of hills and forests.

Carlisle itself is home to the smallest cathedral in Britain.  The city is dominated, however, by the dark and brooding castle which in past centuries has borne witness to lengthy sieges and to many a bloody execution of Scottish invaders and their local sympathisers.  You can wander the grim castle dungeons where these unfortunates were held in squalid conditions before being taken to the gallows on Harraby Hill.  The castle was temporary home to Mary Queen of Scots when she began her journey south.  Nothing remains now of the tower which housed her apartments but a remarkably beautiful oak table survives which is said to have been used by the Catholic queen.  The castle museum enables the visitor to browse amongst exhibits connected with the long and distinguished history of the King’s Own Border Regiment and also to view the evidence of Carlisle’s Roman past when it was known as Luguvallum, even then an important stronghold against the marauding tribes of the north.  If museums are your special interest, Tullie House in Carlisle comes highly recommended.  The building itself belonged to a wealthy merchant and his family.  The museum provides a comprehensive insight into Carlisle’s varied past as well as the violent and bloodthirsty story of the Border Reivers who once inhabited the desolate lands hereabout.

Hadrian’s Wall is now lost to view beneath the streets of Carlisle but the city is a good place from which to start your journey if you want to follow its original course.  To the west lie the flatlands of the Solway Plain with its wealth of birdlife and marsh vegetation whilst to the east the established Roman sites with stretches of Hadrian’s original Wall still standing await the intrepid explorer.  Unless you are visiting the area in the height of the summer, we do suggest that you wrap up warm for expeditions to Hadrian’s Wall.  The bleakness of the surroundings must have come as quite a shock to legionaries from warmer climes!

If it is the Lake District itself that you have come to see, then you will find that Lane Head Apartment is a comfortable base from which to plan your excursions.  You will find maps covering the entire National Park together with plenty of suggestions as to places to visit.  If you are keen on walking, cycling or just love the countryside, the Lake District has something to offer everyone.  Windermere is bustling with activity but other lakes such as Wast Water are almost brooding in their silence and tranquility.  Whether you have come to find Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit or to see Wordsworth’s ‘golden daffodils’ in the springtime, the Lake District won’t disappoint you.