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244 m · Outlying Fell — South Lakeland · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Outlying Fell — South Lakeland

Latterbarrow

Latterbarrow at 244m (800ft) is a delightful, craggy little summit above Hawkshead, its rocky top — marked by a tall stone obelisk — giving outstanding views of Esthwaite Water and the surrounding wooded country.

244 m
Height
+0
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

Home › Fells › Latterbarrow

244 mOutlying Fell — South Lakelandsummit is not a Birkett top+0 bonus Birketts within 3 km

Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast

Modelled guidance for the 244 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 19° to 16°C, gusts to 23 mph, 3.7 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌧️
19° / 16°
💨 23 mph
🌧 3.7 mm (100%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌦️
18° / 15°
💨 23 mph
🌧 0.1 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
16° / 8°
💨 27 mph
🌧 0.6 mm (78%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
17° / 3°
💨 24 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (78%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
17° / 5°
💨 15 mph
🌧 2.1 mm (54%)
Sun 2 Aug
☁️
19° / 8°
💨 18 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (24%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
20° / 8°
💨 12 mph
🌧 0.2 mm (23%)

Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 244 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

About the walk

Key information

Latterbarrow

Latterbarrow at 244m (800ft) is a delightful, craggy little summit above Hawkshead, its rocky top — marked by a tall stone obelisk — giving outstanding views of Esthwaite Water and the surrounding wooded country. Wainwright included it in his Outlying Fells guide, praising the lovely view of Esthwaite Water below. The short ascent from Hawkshead is rewarded with one of the finest low-level views in South Lakeland.

Routes up Latterbarrow

Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.

Hawkshead into the woods
7.5 km · ~2 hr · Easy
A quiet woodland circuit from Beatrix Potter’s Hawkshead that climbs to the great cairn on Latterbarrow — a little fell with a big reward, looking clean down Windermere and across to the Coniston fells — then drops back through the trees. Dappled, sheltered and dog-friendly, with a proper viewpoint in the middle.
Classifications & hill data
Outlying Fell
South Lakeland
244 m
Height
801 ft
In feet

Map & nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.

Nearest parking: Ambleside (various paid), about 5.5 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Latterbarrow (within 3 km)

No bonus Birketts within 3 km — every Birkett near here is already a Wainwright summit, so just enjoy the walk.

Routes over Latterbarrow

Hawkshead into the woodsPlanned
7.54 km · ~283 m ascent · loop · ~2–2.5 h · Easy
Summits: Latterbarrow

✎️ Bags Latterbarrow (244 m) and its landmark cairn — a modest top with a view out of all proportion to its height.

⬇️ Download GPX

Best season: Year-round; a good foul-weather or hot-day choice under the trees. Forest tracks get muddy.

⚠️ Warnings: Forest tracks branch and re-cross — follow the waymarks.; Muddy after rain; occasional forestry operations.; Lanes near Hawkshead; livestock in the fields.

Full route guide ↗

✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.

A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass.

Best parking to hike Latterbarrow

Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).

Ambleside (various paid) — 5.5 km from summit (straight line)
Town car parks — Fairfield Horseshoe, Wansfell, Loughrigg from the door.
Directions
🚺 Ambleside Library (142m) — Free · Accessible🚺 Public toilets (316m) — Free☕ Sheila's Cottage☕ The Schelly☕ Costa🍺 Royal Oak🍺 The White Lion🍺 The Ambleside Inn🏪 Rohan🏪 Trespass🏪 F. W. Tyson🏪 Go Outdoors Express
Church Bridge, Troutbeck (limited) — 5.7 km from summit (straight line)
For Wansfell, Troutbeck Tongue and the Ill Bell ridge via Garburn Pass.
Directions
🚺 Public toilets (423m) — Free🚺 Public toilets (1904m) — Free☕ The Old Post Office

Positions are approximate — zoom the map to confirm. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.

Tip: pan and zoom the interactive map at the top of this page to spot other potential parking near your route.

Water & shelter on the way up

On the Hawkshead into the woods route:

🚌 Tourist Information Centre (44 m)⛺ Park House (64 m)

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.

Buses to Latterbarrow from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Stagecoach 555
Kendal – Staveley – Windermere – Ambleside – Rydal – Grasmere – Thirlmere (Wythburn & Swirls) – Keswick
Catch it from: Windermere · Ambleside
Year-round, roughly hourly. The backbone bus of the A591 — ideal for Helvellyn (Wythburn/Swirls), Fairfield, the Central fells and anything around Grasmere/Rydal. From Penrith, take the X4/X5 to Keswick and change.
Stagecoach 505 “Coniston Rambler”
Windermere – Ambleside – Skelwith Bridge – Hawkshead – Coniston
Catch it from: Windermere · Ambleside
Daily in season (reduced winter service). Best access for the Coniston fells (Old Man, Wetherlam group).
Stagecoach 516 “Langdale Rambler”
Ambleside – Skelwith Bridge – Elterwater – New Dungeon Ghyll – Old Dungeon Ghyll
Catch it from: Ambleside · Windermere (change at Ambleside)
The Langdale bus — Pikes, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags, Pike o' Blisco all walkable from the Dungeon Ghyll stops. Seasonal frequency varies; check before relying on the last bus back.
Stagecoach 508 “Ullswater Bus”
Penrith – Pooley Bridge – Aira Force – Glenridding – Patterdale (summer services continue over Kirkstone Pass to Troutbeck and Windermere)
Catch it from: Penrith · Windermere (summer only)
The key route from Penrith for the Eastern and Far Eastern fells: Helvellyn from Glenridding, Place Fell, the Hartsop fells. The summer Kirkstone extension drops you at the pass for Red Screes and Caudale Moor.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Other fells near Latterbarrow

Maps & guidebooks for Latterbarrow

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