The Newlands Valley

If you were brought up on the Tales of Beatrix Potter, you’ll know the Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, a hedgehog who lived in a mineworking (or burrow) above Littletown, on the flanks of Catbells, less than a mile from Stair Cottage. Lucie, the little girl from Newlands Valley, imagined she could toss pebbles from Mrs Tiggy-Winkle’s home into the chimneys at Littletown, far below.

The valley hasn’t changed all that much since then – VisitCumbria describes it as “one of the most picturesque and quiet valleys in the Lake District National Park”.

The late Alfred Wainwright, whose hand-written and drawn guides to the Lakeland fells remain a bible for those who venture onto the hills and mountains, wrote of Newlands in 1984: “More than 50 years have gone by since I first set eyes on Newlands and in all that time the valley seems not to have changed in any way. Today it is the same sweet Arcadia I knew so long ago, lovely and secluded, an idyllic place of flowers and trees, of emerald pastures and sequestered farmsteads, all cosily sheltered by rough mountains, and having as its greatest blessing an undisturbed peace and enjoying a way of life that in essence has never altered.”

Stair, although tiny, is the largest settlement in the valley and is a fantastic centre for both low and high-level walking, the latter including the popular Newlands Round ridge walk.

You can even navigate Newlands Beck by kayak or canoe from Braithwaite.

The main pub in the valley, the popular and traditional Swinside Inn, is a ten-minute half-mile walk from Stair Cottage and does food daily at lunchtimes and evenings, as well as hosting its own music events in summer and September.

Two thousand years ago, the Romans may well have passed up and down the valley, to and from a fort at Castlerigg, above Keswick, where the atmospheric stone circle is witness to much earlier settlement. Later the Vikings farmed here and many local names are the ones the Viking farmers used: Ullock (where the wolves play), Swinside (summer pig pasture) and How Keld (marshy hill) are some of them.

Following the narrow road up the valley south-west from Stair takes you over Newlands Pass, to beautiful Buttermere, in about 15 minutes.

Our neighbour, just across the beck at Stair, is the Newlands Adventure Centre, which runs outdoor activities including ghyll-scrambling, climbing, abseiling or kayaking for groups both young and old.