Haweswater Hotel (opens in new tab) hotel
about 3.4 km from the start, in a straight line
It is the only hotel in the valley these five routes start in, and by its own account "The only building in 100 square miles of nature reserve" - so if it is full there is nothing else inside the radius but a bothy. It answers exactly one family question, and answers it with unusual precision: twelve named rooms take dogs, and you can ask for a non-dog room instead. Two things on it should be settled by phone or email before anyone drives up. Its nav sells an "Exclusive Use" page, so whole-hotel bookings are a product here and your dates can be closed to you with no second option within three miles. And the only line in the whole cache bearing on children is a positioning line - "No crowds or ice-cream parlours" - which is not a policy and must not be read as one; children_welcome is empty because they never say.
Built in 1937 as part of the Haweswater dam scheme, to replace the Dun Bull Inn that the rising reservoir drowned - and the coping stones in its garden were salvaged from the Mardale walls now under the water the five routes start beside.
- Dogs “Dogs are allowed in the following rooms: Wainwright, Mardale, Lonsdale, Westmorland, Artle Crag, Lakeside, Measand, Whelter Crag, Swindale, Cawdale, Rosgil, Wet Sleddle. Please let us know if you prefer to stay in a non-dog friendly room.”
- Evening meal “THE HAWESWATER RESTAURANT Our restaurant was awarded Two Rosettes in 2024”