14th January 2019

Christmas is a magical time of year. People tend to be a bit nicer to each other, families reunite and it’s generally acceptable to eat amounts of chocolate that at any other time of year would be considered grossly ridiculous. And what better place to spend it than in the Lake District, surrounded by mountains […]

12th November 2018

Thirty thousand bed nights, countless cooked breakfasts and new friends every season: this December marks five years since we took over the hostel from the YHA. Then, it was a tired and slightly run down place with a roof that needed urgent attention. Now, it’s a bright and lively popular hostel with a wide cross […]

16th October 2018

The Lakes come to life in the autumn, when the colours on the fells are at their best, and there’s plenty to keep everyone entertained. So what’s on in the Lake District in November? Here’s our top tips of things to do.. Friday Nov 2: Bonfire night in Coniston at the Sports and Social Club […]

9th October 2018

Guests who stayed with us recently went out onto the hills to get lost on purpose – and then find their way back safely. It was the weekend of one of the navigation courses organised by the Fell Runners’ Association which we host each autumn. They have been coming here for more than 25 years, […]

8th October 2018

Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a high school that took its entire Year 8 cohort on a camp to the Lake District every summer, an exercise in outdoor education. The children and the staff slept in tents, and assisted by sixth form volunteers, they prepared their own meals, climbed some […]

13th September 2018

There’s a bible that many of our visitors carry with them on the fells, and that will be one of the Wainwright guides. It’s a good analogy because the guidebooks have sold in biblical proportions, more than two million of them since the first of the seven-book Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells series was […]

3rd September 2018

THERE’S a growing campaign to persuade visitors – to the Lakes and elsewhere – to book direct with their chosen accommodation provider. Here at Elterwater Hostel  we can understand and appreciate the need for online booking agencies if you’re looking for the cheapest deal on a city break, or a package holiday overseas. Too much […]

30th August 2018

Parkrun is all about numbers. And we don’t mean the 5k that folk run every Saturday, several of those folk staying with us regularly to run at our local events. It’s an event – habit, cult, trend – that attracts those who are attracted to statistics, and we thought about this while reading the latest […]

13th August 2018

A new promotional film about the Lake District, Reflecting on the Lakes, features poet Tony Walsh on the glories of our landscape. Tony Walsh, known as Longfella, recites his new poem to mark the UNESCO World Heritage Status for the Lake District National Park, with a background film showing the people and the places “up […]

9th August 2018

When a speed limit was brought in on Windermere in 2005, the critics – those who had power boats and wanted high speed water ski-ing – predicted gloom and doom for the tourist industry in the Lake District. The Lake District National Park Authority introduced the speed limit which has since been set for most […]