28th February 2021

As my mum sat at her school desk in a little west coast town in New Zealand, the boys would dip the ends of her long plaits into the ink well on the desk behind…. if this ‘lockdown business’ goes on much longer, my hair will be long enough to reach the ink well too! […]

12th October 2020

  Standing at 469m Lingmoor Fell packs a lot into its socially distanced position between Great and Little Langdale. The fell is steep and craggy and covered in heather getting its name from the Old Norse word Lyng meaning heather. A serpent like wall  handily leads to the summit giving a view of Lingmoor Tarn […]

15th September 2020

A new long distance challenge route for runners and walkers has been established in the Lake District, centred on Elterwater. It’s called 23 before tea, and covers more than 36 miles, taking in 23 fell tops around the Elterwater Independent Hostel. The aim is to run the whole circuit, or walk it in sections, and […]

21st August 2020

  Manager Nick explains what we’ve done to bring visitors back to Elterwater and make you welcome, and reflects on a strange season in the Lakes    ‘Furlough’ and ‘lockdown’… the first, a word that if asked previously to define I would have suggested something agricultural. The second, a word I’d normally associate with a […]

7th July 2020

The world has changed, and how far and how permanently this will affect the future of hostelling we are yet to discover. What we do know is that Coronavirus, and the forced closure of our hostel, has been a body blow in our six-and-a-half-year journey to take Elterwater Hostel from a fairly run down old-school […]

4th June 2020

World Environment Day is celebrated worldwide on the 5th June each year. It was established in 1974 by the United Nations General Assembly, and has become a globally recognised initiative to engage businesses, governments, and citizens to focus their efforts on pressing environmental issues. Each year is host to a theme, which this year is […]

22nd May 2020

Personal reflections on owning a hostel in the time of coronavirus Like so many others who love the Lake District, we are in exile and unable to visit. This week we planned to be at the hostel, covering our manager Nick’s holidays. He had an event to attend in London and Pete, our go-to relief, […]

4th March 2020

We’re preparing for a very important birthday celebration in this part of the Lake District. April 7 will mark 250 years since the birth of William Wordsworth who is arguably Britain’s most famous poet – and who wrote what is undoubtedly the world’s most famous poem. Daffodils: we have thousands of them around here, adding […]

20th February 2020

WE make no apologies for repeating this, our perfect pancake recipe, which was widely appreciated last year. Patience is the secret to the perfect pancake recipe. But why do we eat pancakes anyway on Shrove Tuesday?  In Christian tradition, the 40 days before Easter  known as Lent mark the time that Jesus spent fasting in […]

7th February 2020

We are cool; it’s official. Well, to be honest, it’s been pretty chilly rather than cool over the last few weeks, but we’re rather pleased to see that Cumbria has made the annual Cool List. This is a judgment by the revered National Geographic magazine who’ve selected the 20 must-see destinations you should have on […]