Ullswater

Ullswater is a long, narrow lake in Cumbria’s Lake District, the second largest in the region. It winds through three reaches shaped like a stretched Z, with steep hills rising on either side. The lake formed when glaciers carved the valley after the last ice age and filled with meltwater. For centuries it marked the border between Cumberland and Westmorland. Three glaciers shaped its course, leaving a deep basin that reaches sixty-three metres at its deepest point. The River Eamont flows from its southern end toward the Eden and the Solway Firth. Small villages line its shores, including Glenridding at the south and Pooley Bridge at the north. Ullswater has drawn visitors since the mid-18th century and became a fashionable retreat for British aristocrats in the 1890s. In 1912 the German Emperor Wilhelm II toured the lake aboard the royal yacht MY Raven. The Ullswater Steamers began in the 1850s as working boats carrying mail and miners to Greenside Mine. A twenty-kilometre walking route, the Ullswater Way, was opened in 2016 and can be walked in either direction. The lake hosts the Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy regatta every July, attracting more than two hundred sailing boats. Donald Campbell set a world water-speed record here in 1955, reaching over three hundred and twenty-five kilometres per hour. Aira Force waterfall stands midway on the western shore, overlooked by Lyulph’s Tower, a pele tower built as a shooting box. Sharrow Bay Country House hotel sits on the eastern shore, offering views across the water. The National Trust protects the lake and falls, where spring family memorials can be seen. Nearby Eusemere once housed anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Clarkson, whose guest William Wordsworth was inspired to write Daffodils after seeing the flowers along the shore. Iron Age remains on Dunmallard Hill and a possible Viking earthwork at Hodgson Hill add layers of history to the landscape. Campsites and holiday parks provide places to stay among the wooded hills and open fells.