Haweswater

Why can't you swim in Haweswater?

This is the question almost everyone asks, so here it is plainly: you can't swim in Haweswater because it's an active drinking-water reservoir. It supplies around a quarter of North-West England's drinking water, and its owner, United Utilities, prohibits swimming, paddling and all watersports — both to protect water quality and for safety (reservoirs have cold water, steep underwater sides and submerged structures). The same goes for boats, kayaks and paddleboards: not permitted.

What you can do is walk, watch wildlife and take in an atmospheric valley. The shore-and-fell circuit, the rewilding reserve and the surrounding tops are the reasons to come — see Walks & fells below.

The drowned village of Mardale Green

Before the dam, Mardale was a farming valley with a small lake (Haweswater) and a village, Mardale Green, at its head — a church, farms and the Dun Bull Inn. Between 1929 and 1935, Manchester Corporation built the dam and flooded the valley, raising the water level by around 29 metres and submerging the village and the hamlet of Measand. The buildings were demolished first; stone from the church went into the dam, and the bodies from the churchyard were re-buried at Shap.

In a normal year the village lies well below the surface. But in a serious drought, when the reservoir drops far enough, Mardale re-emerges — drystone walls, the old field boundaries, the lane and the remains of the bridge appear out of the mud, and crowds come to see them. It's become a recurring news story ("is the village visible / how full is Haweswater today"). The honest answer: it's only visible in exceptionally dry spells — most of the time there's nothing to see but water.

Wild Haweswater & the golden eagle

The fells around Haweswater are the focus of Wild Haweswater, a long-term RSPB and United Utilities nature-recovery partnership across the surrounding land — restoring peat, native woodland and montane habitats, with red squirrels, ring ouzels and rich birdlife, and a bird hide to watch from. It's an ambitious rewilding project.

It's also, poignantly, where England lost its golden eagles. Riggindale, the ridge above the water, was the last place in England with a resident golden eagle — a lone male who held the territory for years. He was last seen in 2015 and is presumed to have died soon after, leaving England with no breeding golden eagles. We'd love to tell you to look for one, but honesty matters more: the eagle is gone. Young birds from Scotland do pass through now: in June 2025 the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project reported that satellite tags had followed some of its young eagles over the Lake District, the North Pennines and Northumberland, but they are wanderers rather than breeders, and the project says it is too early to tell whether any will settle. The story — and the wilder valley that might one day tempt another back — is part of what makes Riggindale worth the walk.

Walks & fells

This is superb, quiet walking country — big grassy ridges, deep coves and two fine tarns.

• The Mardale Horseshoe Walked in part — the classic round of the head of the valley, taking in Harter Fell (Mardale), Mardale Ill Bell and the high ground toward High Street, with airy ridges and flat, wind-exposed tops.
• High Street and Kidsty Pike — the great whaleback of the eastern fells, crossed by a Roman road, with Kidsty Pike's fine peak above Riggindale (the eagle valley).
• Blea Water — cupped beneath Mardale Ill Bell, this is the deepest tarn in the Lake District; nearby Small Water sits under the Nan Bield Pass.
• The shore circuit — a walk of about 17 km (10 miles) around the reservoir from Mardale Head, half of it on the lane along the eastern shore, with the rewilding land and the eagle valley on the way.

Check the live "Best Fells today" conditions before the tops — these are remote, exposed fells where the weather matters. The Fells & walks nearby box below lists the closest summits with a full guide.

Editor's note (Lee). I've been up High Street twice from the car park at the south side of Haweswater Reservoir: the first time on a beautiful, clear winter's day, over the Rough Crag ridge and Long Stile, and the other with friends on a very hot summer's day, up along Small Water Beck to the tarn of the same name.

Getting there & parking

Without a car: The nearest stations as the crow flies are Staveley (15 km away) and Windermere (16 km away). The bus map has every stop we hold.

Haweswater is genuinely remote. There's no through road: you drive in on a dead-end lane from Bampton (itself reached from Penrith or the M6 at Shap), following the eastern shore all the way to the Mardale Head car park at the head of the valley — the trailhead for the horseshoe and the shore walk. There's no bus to the head of the valley and no railway nearby — the nearest town and railhead is Penrith. There are no shops or facilities at Mardale Head, so bring what you need.

Parking, toilets and buses: Parking near Haweswater

Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat

Where to stay & practical

This is a corner to come to for peace, so accommodation is sparse and mostly down the valley. The Haweswater Hotel sits above the eastern shore (built to serve the reservoir after the old Dun Bull Inn was lost) and is now a well-regarded small hotel with notable dining — worth checking directly for rooms and restaurant booking. Otherwise Bampton and Shap have a little accommodation, and Penrith has the full range a short drive away.

It's wonderful, lonely dog-walking and wildlife country, but plan around the lack of facilities — no shops, limited parking, no swimming. Nearby, the Ullswater valley is just over the hills to the west: easy day trips take in Ullswater, Pooley Bridge and Patterdale, with Shap Abbey and the eastern fells on the doorstep.

A note on facts: we don't publish live reservoir levels, and access or rules can change — check United Utilities and RSPB Haweswater for the current picture before you travel.