Best Places to Visit in Cumbria (Lake District)
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The best places to visit in Cumbria (Lake District) are Brough Castle, Rydal Cave, Banishead Quarry, Slater's Bridge, Great Langdale, Rowantree Force, Galleny Force Pools and Hodge Close Quarry.
Cumbria and the Lake District mix soaring fells with old slate country and a scatter of quiet ruins. The great valley is Great Langdale, ringed by the rocky Langdale Pikes, with paths climbing to the tops past Dungeon Ghyll Force.
Slate has left dramatic marks: the deep, dark pools of the flooded quarries at Hodge Close, Banishead and Rydal Cave, each cut by hand and now half-filled with cold water, and the old slate footbridge at Slater's Bridge crossing the Brathay in Little Langdale. Water gathers for swimmers at Galleny Force in Borrowdale and pours through a ravine at the little-known Rowantree Force in the quiet south-western fells.
Away from the mountains, Brough Castle keeps its Norman keep on a green mound in the Eden valley. Some are grand valleys, others hidden quarries and falls.
Here are eight places to visit across Cumbria and the Lake District.
Brough Castle
Photo: Tim Fields via Geograph.org.uk
Brough Castle is a ruined Norman castle standing on a green mound above a beck in the Eden valley, in eastern Cumbria. It was built on the site of an old Roman fort, and the Normans reused the Roman earthworks when they raised the first castle here after the Conquest.
The main survival is the tall stone keep, with lengths of curtain wall and a later tower around a grassy courtyard. It long belonged to the Clifford family, and in the sixteen-hundreds Lady Anne Clifford had the decayed castle repaired.
Now it is a peaceful ruin looked after by English Heritage, with wide views over the fells.
Rydal Cave
Photo: Geoff Kowalczyk via Geograph.org.uk
Rydal Cave is a large cavern in the side of Loughrigg Fell, above Rydal Water near Ambleside, cut out not by nature but by slate quarrying. A short walk up from the lakeshore reaches its wide entrance, where a shallow pool with small fish is crossed on stepping stones into a big, dark, dry chamber that echoes underfoot.
It is free and open to wander into, though a torch and sturdy shoes help. A smaller working lies nearby, and the cave is a well-known spot on the walks around Rydal and Grasmere.
Banishead Quarry
Photo: Karl and Ali via Geograph.org.uk
Banishead Quarry is a disused slate quarry high on the fells above Torver, near Coniston. The old workings have flooded into a deep, dark pool held in by rock walls, and a waterfall pours over the lip into it, loud and constant.
The fall is not natural: the beck that feeds it was long ago turned into the quarry pit, and it has run in ever since. Around the pool lie heaps of broken slate and the low remains of the quarrying, with open fell and the higher Coniston hills rising beyond.
It is a popular spot for wild swimming, the water cold and deep against the steep rock, reached on a walk up rough tracks from the valley.
Slater's Bridge
Photo: Jo Wood via Geograph.org.uk
Slater’s Bridge A low slate arch leaps the River Brathay in a single narrow span, one of the oldest footbridges in the Lakes. The quarrymen who built it, the slaters who gave it its name, wanted a dry way across to the slate they were cutting nearby.
Their answer came in two parts: the arch over the main flow, then a flatter run of slabs over a side channel, propped in part on a boulder sitting in the stream. It carries one person at a time over uneven footing, with only a simple handrail to steady you.
Several centuries on, it still repays a slow, careful crossing on the circular walk round Little Langdale.
Great Langdale
Photo: DS Pugh via Geograph.org.uk
Great Langdale The rocky summits of the Langdale Pikes ring this valley in the heart of the Lake District, west of Ambleside, and paths climb straight from the floor onto them, on to Bowfell and Crinkle Crags, past the fall of Dungeon Ghyll Force and up to Stickle Tarn. Farms, drystone walls and a scatter of houses fill the valley below, where the old inns at Dungeon Ghyll have long been tied to fell walking and climbing.
Much of the land here belongs to the National Trust. Whether you keep to the valley or head for the heights, it is a classic Cumbrian day out.
Rowantree Force
Photo: Karl and Ali via Geograph.org.uk
Rowantree Force is a little-known double waterfall in a ravine on the flank of Stainton Pike, an outlying fell in the southwestern Lake District near Waberthwaite. Hidden from the main paths, it was singled out by Alfred Wainwright as the finest natural feature of these quiet hills.
There is no formal path, parking or signposting; it is a rough-fell feature reached on foot across open ground. It runs strongest after rain.
Galleny Force Pools
Photo: Michael Graham via Geograph.org.uk
Galleny Force is a run of pools and low waterfalls on the beck just above Stonethwaite in Borrowdale, a spot often called the Fairy Glen. The water slides over rock into clear pools among trees, ferns and mossy boulders, used for paddling and wild swimming on warm days.
A short walk upstream from the village leads to it, on the Cumbria Way and Coast to Coast route. It sits in a green, sheltered fold of the valley.
Hodge Close Quarry
Photo: Chris Heaton via Geograph.org.uk
Hodge Close is a huge disused slate quarry near Little Langdale, its deep pit now half-filled with dark, cold water below sheer, unfenced rock walls. Seen through an arch at the water's edge, the cliff and its reflection line up to form the shape of a giant skull, a well-known sight among photographers.
Divers explore the flooded pit and the tunnels leading off it, though the place has a grim record of accidents. The bare rock faces are also used by climbers and abseilers.
FAQs
Which flooded quarries can you visit in the Lake District?
The Lake District has three notable flooded slate quarries: Hodge Close, Banishead and Rydal Cave. Hodge Close near Little Langdale is a deep pit half-filled with dark water, where an arch lines up the cliff and its reflection into the shape of a skull; Banishead above Torver has a waterfall pouring into its flooded pool; and Rydal Cave, cut by slate quarrying in Loughrigg Fell, is a big dry chamber reached over stepping stones.
Where can you go wild swimming in the Lake District?
Banishead Quarry above Torver has a deep, cold pool below its waterfall, and Galleny Force above Stonethwaite in Borrowdale, often called the Fairy Glen, has clear pools among trees and boulders for paddling and swimming on warm days. Both are cold, and the quarry water is deep against steep rock.
What is Slater's Bridge?
Slater's Bridge is an old slate footbridge over the River Brathay in Little Langdale, built by the quarrymen to reach the slate quarries nearby and thought to be several centuries old. It has a low slate arch over the main channel and a flatter slab section over a side channel, and lies on a well-liked circular walk around the valley.
Conclusion
Cumbria and the Lake District wrap high fells around old slate country and quiet ruins. Great Langdale is the great valley, ringed by the Langdale Pikes, with paths climbing past Dungeon Ghyll Force.
Slate has left its mark in the flooded quarry pools at Hodge Close, Banishead and Rydal Cave, each hand-cut and now filled with cold water, and in the old slate footbridge at Slater's Bridge over the Brathay. Water gathers for swimmers at Galleny Force in Borrowdale and pours through a ravine at the hidden Rowantree Force in the south-western fells, while Brough Castle keeps its Norman keep on its Eden-valley mound.
From soaring valley to flooded pit, these are the places to seek out across Cumbria and the Lake District.
