Rainy Day Things to Do in the Lake District: Best Indoor Attractions
· Updated
The Lake District is one of the wettest corners of England, so a rainy day is not bad luck, it is the forecast. Seathwaite in Borrowdale is the wettest inhabited place in the country at over 3,000mm of rain a year, and the central fells routinely beat that. Plan for it and a wet day becomes the best day of your trip: museums, mines, boat halls, breweries and a long pub lunch, all under cover.
Here is what to actually do when the cloud sits on the tops. Every attraction below is indoor or mostly indoor, spread across the national park so there is something within a short drive of wherever you have pitched up.
This is part of our guide to camping in the UK's national parks, from the team at Camping Sites in Britain, where you can find and compare campsites and caravan parks right across the Lakes.
The best indoor attractions at a glance
The Lake District packs a lot under one roof, and the choice depends on who you are with and where you are staying. Use this table to match the weather to the people in the tent.
| Attraction | Where | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| The World of Beatrix Potter | Bowness-on-Windermere | Young families |
| Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum | Grasmere | History and poetry |
| Windermere Jetty Museum | Windermere | Boats and steam |
| Honister Slate Mine | Borrowdale | Underground adventure |
| Derwent Pencil Museum | Keswick | Quirky, cheap, family |
| Keswick Museum | Keswick | Local history |
| Lakeland Motor Museum | Backbarrow | Classic cars and bikes |
| Rheged Centre | Near Penrith | Films, art, wet lunch stop |
| Wray Castle | Claife, near Ambleside | Free-range family fun |
| The Beacon Museum | Whitehaven | Coast and social history |
| Hawkshead Brewery | Staveley | Grown-up afternoons |
For families with young children
Bowness and Keswick are where you want to be with small children on a wet day. The World of Beatrix Potter at Bowness-on-Windermere brings Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck and the rest to life across an indoor walk-through, with a garden and a tea room, and it is aimed squarely at the under-eights. It gets busy in school holidays, so book a timed slot ahead if the rain is forecast days out.
Over in Keswick, the Derwent Pencil Museum (properly the Cumberland Pencil Museum) is the sort of gloriously odd small attraction the Lakes does so well. It tells the story of graphite mining at Borrowdale and the pencil industry it created, and it holds the world's longest colouring pencil. It is cheap, it is undercover, and it fills a happy hour or two before lunch.
If you want more ideas for keeping children busy across the park, our guide to top family activities in the Lake District covers the lot, wet and dry.
For an underground adventure
The most memorable wet-weather day out in the Lakes happens below ground, where it is dry anyway. Honister Slate Mine in Borrowdale is England's last working slate mine, and its guided Mine Tours take you deep into the fellside on foot to see how Westmorland green slate is still worked by hand. It is warm, dry and genuinely gripping, and the hard hats and head torches make it a proper adventure for older children and adults.
Honister sits at the top of the pass between Borrowdale and Buttermere, so the drive there is half the fun. The mine also runs a via ferrata on the crag outside for anyone who fancies the rain on their face. Book tours in advance, as they run to a timetable and fill up. For the geology behind all that slate, see our piece on the UK's geological wonders near campsites.
For history, poetry and boats
The Lakes shaped English writing and English boating, and both have brilliant indoor homes. Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum in Grasmere is where William Wordsworth wrote much of his best work, preserved by the Wordsworth Trust with the adjoining museum telling the story of the man and the Romantics around him. It is a short, rich visit and pairs neatly with lunch and a Grasmere gingerbread from the tiny shop by the church.
On the lake shore, the Windermere Jetty Museum holds a nationally important collection of steam launches, motor boats and sailing yachts in a modern building right on the water, with boat trips on a restored steam launch when the weather allows. Nearby, Keswick Museum covers the northern Lakes, from local geology to a famous set of musical stones, and Wray Castle near Ambleside is a mock-Gothic National Trust pile with almost no furniture and no rules, so children can run riot indoors while you dry out.
For cars, films and the west coast
Three bigger attractions swallow a whole wet afternoon. The Lakeland Motor Museum at Backbarrow, near Newby Bridge, holds thousands of classic cars, motorbikes and exhibits including the Campbell Bluebird story, and it has a cafe over the River Leven for when you have had your fill. The Rheged Centre near Penrith is built into a hillside as Europe's largest grass-covered building, with a big cinema screen, changing exhibitions, shops and food, and it makes an ideal stop coming off the M6 or the A66.
On the coast, The Beacon Museum at Whitehaven tells the story of west Cumbria's mining, smuggling and seafaring across several floors, with a top-floor weather gallery and harbour views if the sky clears. It is a genuine bad-weather saviour on the quieter western side of the park. If getting there is part of the plan, our guide to the best scenic drives to campsites has routes worth taking slowly in the rain.
For grown-ups: breweries and a pub lunch
Sometimes the right answer to rain is a fire, a pint and a plate of something hot. Cumbria has a strong brewing scene, and Hawkshead Brewery at Staveley, near Windermere, runs a Beer Hall where you can taste its range, learn how the beer is made and eat without going anywhere near a fell. It is an easy, friendly afternoon and a short hop from Kendal.
Beyond that, the Lakes is full of proper old inns built for exactly this weather, with slate floors, low beams and a menu of Cumberland sausage, Herdwick hogget and sticky toffee pudding, which was invented in the county. A long lunch by the fire at a village pub is a rainy day plan in its own right, and no booking system will ever beat it.
How to plan a wet day in the Lakes
A little planning turns a washout into a highlight. Keep these in mind before you set off from the campsite.
- Book timed tickets the night before. The big indoor sites (Beatrix Potter, Honister, the Jetty Museum) fill fast when it rains and everyone has the same idea.
- Check current prices and opening times on each official website. Many attractions close or shorten hours in winter, and prices change each season, so confirm before you drive.
- Group by area. Bowness and Windermere, Keswick and Borrowdale, or the west coast around Whitehaven each give you two or three options within a few miles, so you are not driving all over the park in poor visibility.
- Keep a dry bag and a towel in the car. Getting from the car park to the door is the wettest bit of the day.
- Have a pub as your backup. If a queue is out the door, a warm lunch nearby is never a bad plan B.
When you are ready to book somewhere to stay, browse our Lake District and Cumbria campsites, or start from the full campsite directory to compare sites across the country.
Frequently asked questions
What is there to do in the Lake District when it rains?
Plenty. Visit the World of Beatrix Potter at Bowness, tour Honister Slate Mine underground, see the boats at the Windermere Jetty Museum, or spend an afternoon at the Lakeland Motor Museum or the Rheged Centre. A long pub lunch is a fine plan too.
Is the Lake District worth visiting in bad weather?
Yes. It is one of the wettest parts of England, so its indoor attractions are excellent and plentiful. Museums, mines, galleries, breweries and historic houses mean a wet day is easy to fill, and the fells look their most dramatic under low cloud.
What is the wettest place in the Lake District?
Seathwaite in Borrowdale is the wettest inhabited place in England, with over 3,000mm of rain a year. The high central fells around it receive even more. It is a big reason the area has so many good indoor things to do.
Can you go inside a slate mine in the Lake District?
Yes. Honister Slate Mine in Borrowdale runs guided walking tours deep into the fellside to see England's last working slate mine. It is warm and dry underground, so it is an ideal rainy day trip. Book tours in advance as they run to a timetable.
What indoor attractions are good for young children in the Lake District?
The World of Beatrix Potter at Bowness, the Derwent Pencil Museum in Keswick and Wray Castle near Ambleside all work well for young families, with plenty to see under cover and room to move about on a wet day.
Where are the Wordsworth attractions in the Lake District?
In Grasmere. Dove Cottage was William Wordsworth's home, and the adjoining Wordsworth Museum, run by the Wordsworth Trust, tells his story and that of the Romantic poets around him. It is a short, rewarding visit close to the village centre.
The short version
The Lake District gets some of the highest rainfall in England, so it is built for wet days. Pick two or three indoor spots in one area, book timed tickets ahead, check prices on the official sites, and finish with a pub lunch by the fire.
Sort the roof over your tent first: browse Lake District and Cumbria campsites, then read more on camping in the UK's national parks.
