Seatoller & Seathwaite Walk, Cumbria

The Hamlet of Seatoller is situated towards the head of Borrowdale, at the point where the valley road swings to the right to commence the steep climb to the Honister Pass and Buttermere. In addition to the Yew Tree there is an information centre with periodic displays of local arts and crafts. Seathwaite is an old and substantial head of the valley farmstead, close to the mighty mountains such as Scafell and Great Gable which form the high core of the Lake District.

Traditionally the farm is the site of the rain gauge which consistently records the highest rainfall in England.

Despite the proximity to these great mountains,this route is a virtually level circuit from which the mountains, the tumbling streams such as Sourmilk Gill and the demanding limitations imposed on farming in the District, can all be viewed and appreciated.

Leave the car park, turning left, down the road, for a short distance.

Turn right at the road junction, to follow ‘Seathwaite 1’. The quiet road provides a pleasant route for a long half mile. Immediately before the road bridge over the infant River Derwent, go through a gate on the right and take a path which stays fairly close to the river, a little rough in places but not too difficult to follow. Pass a memorial tablet to ‘John Bankes Esq., a replacement for one destroyed by vandals in November 1887’ before reaching a bridge over Sourmilk Gill, Cross the bridge, then a bridge over the River Derwent, then turn left to reach Seathwaite Farm.

Among the farm buildings, turn right then, at a prominent signpost, turn left. Keep close to the wall on the left for 100 yards, then turn left through a gate, to cross a field with several low stone cairns, to reach another gate. The path, generally evident on the ground, continues along the foot of the hillside, liberally strewn with glacially deposited boulders. Just before reaching Thorneythwaite Farm, follow the signs by turning right immediately before a gate, soon joining the farm access roadway, on the left the great thickness of the wall shows the extent of the stone clearance required before the adjacent field could be put to farming use. The roadway follows the river to the main valley road, opposite the ‘Mountain View’ houses.

Cross the road and take the obvious path to a stone bridge over the river. Rise to the left to join a major track, soon in woodland, rising behind a holiday centre to a gate in the wall above. Turn left to descend directly to a gate/stile and the Seatoller car park.