1hr from Preston / Grasmere

About an hour, Google says 1hr 14mins, from Preston.

A few years ago Grasmere was a bit untouched and rustic crumbly. It seems to have been tidied up a bit and made to appeal to a broader range of tourist. Maybe that's egalitarian but to me it's lost some of its character. Although it's still a small isolated village with dry stone walls and houses to match.

A pleasant place, overlooked by the lamb and the lion, the so called rock shape on top of the hill. Next to the river is the pleasingly shaped church with a graveyard containing William Wordsworth and family graves. Next door is the tiny Gingerbread shop cottage where the slabs of gingerbread are made and sold in a tiny shop. You need a strong bag to carry these, but they are good.

Then you just walk round the village in a circle and go home. We like Baldry's Cafe although that isn't as rustic as it was. We liked that once you couldn't see out of the window because it was steamed up, there might be an icicle, the chairs were rickety and a lady was making gorgeous fresh cake, tarts and puddings in the back. It seems a bit tidier now. The cafe, sandwich shop across the road isn't so bad but we thought a bit expensive for what it was. We once stayed overnight there. Walking on you come to the Heaton Cooper Gallery with his famous watercolours, prints on sale.

It's not easy to get to the lake, you need to walk beyond the village, there is(?) a small cafe with boats for hire.

Other things near Grasmere, a couple of hundred yards, are the Wordsworth Centre which has been extended and smartened up into quite a big display on the main road which by-passes the village.

If you walk up the hill next to the Wordsworth Centre and are good for a few miles you can walk right round Lake Grasmere. Carry on up the hill and keep right at the fork, you'll eventually start going downhill gradually moving towards the main road. At the main road, there is a remote car park on the left, cross the road very carefully and go through the wall. There was a toilet here last time we went, go right and cross the wooden river bridge. Carry on till you get to a stile, it's quite rough here in places, in a wood. After the touch gate turn right on open fell and go up to get a view of Lake Grasmere. Then decide whether to go along Loughrigg Terrace the higher walk or to go along the lake side. Keep going round the lake, past the Loughrigg side you go through a wood and then along the lake edge till you get to private land when you are pointed left along a track to the road which takes you back to Grasmere.

Grasmere can be wet, we've had the biggest drenchings ever walking here. Other not too difficult walks are to the corrie of Easedale Tarn walking up alongside the waterfall. You need boots. Also to the east is Helvellyn, mighty and serious hill / mountain with a beautiful name and it's daring Striding Edge on the other side. You could try Silver How or Blea Rigg where my wifes fingers almost froze off, we love the winter. That smell of log fires, the sound of jackdaws pinging, dark at 4pm, occasional clear skies, freezing or wet, looking out.