The Lake District is a popular destination for many people in the UK, particularly in the North West given the relatively short travel distance.
We recently visited Allonby at the edge of the Lakes for a weekend with our tribe and our friend's tribe and added 2 dogs in for good measure! We booked a cottage to stay in through Sykes Cottages, it was called Sun House and perfect for accommodating the amount of people that we had.
The cottage was literally a 2 minute walk from the beach which was perfect for the dogs and the kids to run off some of their energy, the kids especially as there was a playground right in front of the beach.
Allonby is a really small village within itself and other than the beach (which we spent a whole day on) there isn't much else to do but it's a great base for exploring the lakes themselves, here's our top tips for visiting:
Rydal Cave:
Rydal Cave walk is brilliant for all ages, if you have babies in prams it is doable but most is uphill on the way there so I would recommend a carrier if possible. There are 2 car parks for the walks, the first one which is pretty much at the base gets full very quickly, however there is another car park just over the road that is generally a little quieter.
The trek is clearly labelled from the beginning so it’s difficult to get lost, the kids all loved it as there was so much to see and the views were incredible on the way up. Once we got to the top the cave itself was amazing to explore. You have to go over stepping stones to get inside but the kids absolutely loved this part, we spent nearly an hour inside just looking and exploring and shouting things to hear the echo.
Cost: Car Parking was about £11 for a couple of hours
Distance: 1 hr 15 min (from Allonby)
Time to Complete: Walk each way is about 30 mins
Difficulty: Easy walk but all uphill
Maryport:
This is the closest "bigger town" to Allonby, Maryport is a fishing village that has a number of little streets and shops in and there is also a lighthouse you can walk too.
The walk to the lighthouse took longer than anticipated as we had to walk around the edge of the harbour, there are bridges that can cut the distance but some of them were closed when we went which meant we had to walk along the edge instead.
The lighthouse itself was a bit of a let-down once we got to it, however the kids loved the RNLI Lifeboat Station that is open to the public. They were shown around the station, got to climb in the boats and we spent a good hour in here just being shown round and asking questions.
On the way back from the Lighthouse we decided to walk along the old roman walls and ruins, this was brilliant for the kids exploring and climbing (and bonus tired them out).
Cost: £0 (parking was free, RNLI had voluntary donation)
Distance: 10 min drive (from Allonby)
Time to Complete: 90 mins to walk there and back
Difficulty: Very Easy
Were the Lakes Dog Friendly?
We took 2 dogs with us on the trip and they joined us everywhere we went:
Allonby - The Sun House was a dog friendly property which even left towels, bowls and toys for the pups. We went for dinner in the local pub which again was dog friendly, the beaches are also dog friendly and the ice cream shop offers a "Pup Ice Cream"
Rydal Cave - The walk is dog friendly and the local town (Ambleside) is incredibly dog friendly.
Maryport - Another great one for your 4 legged friends, we ate in a cafe that again welcomed the pups inside.
The Logistics:
Accommodation Cost: £726 for 4 adults, 4 children & 2 dogs for 3 nights/4 days
Distance: 2 hrs 30 min (from Manchester)
Dog Friendly: incredibly | 10/10
Revisit? We would defiantly go back to the lakes and to Sun House to be fair as its a great base for exploring more
