Windermere

Belle Isle is the largest of 18 islands on Windermere, a mere in the English Lake District, and the only one ever to have been inhabited. It is 1 km in length. The Roman governor at Ambleside built a villa on the island. In 1250 it was the seat of the district's Lord of the Manor. It was also a Royalist stronghold during the English Civil War. Island House was built in 1774 to designs by John Plaw. It is unusual in that it is circular in plan, built of brick, three floors high with a four column portico; it draws closely on the Pantheon, Rome. The house was sold along with the island to the wealthy Curwen family who renamed the island after their daughter, Isabella. It was then sold on to Isabella Curwen by her family in 1781 for £1,720 and was permanently renamed after her. The descendants of Isabella and her husband John Christian Curwen lived on the island until 1993.It is called 'Bell Island' not 'Isabella Island' because of use of the shortened form of Isabella- Bella, which lost the 'a' to become 'Bell', spelt 'Belle' by the Ordnance Survey map of 1925 over the years. It was known locally as the Great Island or Long Holme and formerly known as Longholm, before its renaming in 1774.In 1996 (some records suggest 23 December 1994), Belle Isle House suffered serious damage following a large fire. However, it was repaired and is once again a place of residence.

The Windermere Way is a 45-mile circuit of Windermere, a lake in the English Lake District. The route is wholly within the Lake District National Park and takes in the summits of Wansfell, Loughrigg Fell and Gummer's How as well as passing through the towns of Ambleside and Windermere.

The Windermere Ferry is a vehicular cable ferry which crosses Windermere, a lake in the English county of Cumbria. The ferry route forms part of the B5285 road and crosses the lake at about its midpoint, from Ferry Nab in Bowness-on-Windermere to Ferry House at Far Sawrey, a distance of some 490 metres (540 yd). The ferry is owned and operated by Cumbria County Council.The ferry operates all year, with services every 20 minutes from early morning to mid-evening. Each crossing can carry up to 18 cars and over 100 passengers and takes less than 10 minutes. A toll is charged. If the ferry is not operating, the alternative is a road journey of approximately 15 miles (24 km) around either the head or foot of the lake.

Hawkshead and Claife is a National Trust property made up of much of the town of Hawkshead and surrounding Claife Woodlands in Cumbria, England. Overlooking Windermere itself is Claife Station, the ruins of a residence notable for the fact that each room was glazed in differing coloured glass to give the effect of viewing the landscape in the changing seasons. Hawkshead is home to the Beatrix Potter Gallery, another National Trust property. The Trust also owns four miles of access along Windermere lakeshore.

St Martin's Church stands in the centre of the town of Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Windermere, the archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness, and the diocese of Carlisle. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. Its benefice is united with that of St Anne's Church, Ings; St Cuthbert's Church, Kentmere; St James' Church, Staveley; Jesus Church, Troutbeck and St Mary's Church, Windermere.

The New Hall Inn, also known as the Hole in t'Wall, is the oldest public house in Bowness-on-Windermere, and is a Grade II listed building.

Claife Heights is an upland area in the Lake District, near to Windermere in Cumbria, England. It has a topographic prominence of 177 metres (581 ft) so is classified as a Marilyn (a hill with prominence of at least 150m). It is the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. He describes a clockwise circuit starting at Far Sawrey and passing Moss Eccles Tarn. He says "Claife Heights is delightful. It was more so before forestry curtailed walking and restricted the views." and describes it as "No definite summit. Highest parts about 900ft."

Bowness-on-Windermere is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Windermere, in South Lakeland, Cumbria, England. Due to its position on the banks of Windermere, the town has become a tourist honeypot. Although their mutual growth has caused them to become one large settlement, the town is distinct from the town of Windermere as the two still have distinguishable town centres. Historically part of Westmorland, in 2012, Bowness was one of the official stop off points for the Olympic torch before it made its way to the Olympic Games opening ceremony. In 1951 the parish had a population of 3345.

Windermere Jetty: Museum of Boats, Steam and Stories (formerly Windermere Steamboat Museum) is a museum on the eastern shore of Windermere between Bowness-on-Windermere and the town of Windermere in Cumbria, England. It reopened in March 2019 after 12 years' closure and redevelopment work.

Storrs Hall is a hotel on the banks of Windermere in Storrs in the Lake District, Cumbria, England. The hotel, a Grade II* listed Georgian mansion, is also home to the National Trust-owned folly the "Temple" on the end of a stone jetty on Windermere. Situated in the Lake District, Storrs Hall sits alongside the Windermere. It stands in seventeen acres of grounds and woodland.The mansion was first built in the 1790s by Sir John Legard, a Yorkshire landowner. After 14 years of owning the building, Sir John Legard became increasingly crippled by gout, and eventually sold Storrs Hall in 1804. The new owner of Storrs Hall was John Bolton, born in Ulverston in 1756, who was a rich man and one of the wealthiest men of his class. He extended the mansion and created a park. John Bolton was a Cumbrian who made a fortune as a Liverpool slave trader. He bought Storrs Hall with some of the proceeds and used the residence to entertain in style, holding regattas on the lake which were attended by Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott amongst others.Elizabeth Bolton died in 1848 and the hall passed to her nephew Reverend Thomas Staniforth. Thomas was the son of former Lord Mayor of London Samuel Staniforth and grandson of Thomas Staniforth, also former mayor and slave trader. Staniforth moved into the hall in 1859 after retiring from his parish and lived there until he passed in 1887. As he never had any children the estate was sold off in lots.Between 1940 and 1944, Storrs Hall (which had previously been used both as a girls' school and as a youth hostel) played host to the staff and boys of St Hugh's School, Woodhall Spa, who were evacuated from their own buildings amidst the airfields of Lincolnshire during World War II.Today, Storrs Hall is a 4 star hotel.

Blackwell is a large house in the English Lake District, designed in the Arts and Crafts style by Baillie Scott. It was built in 1898–1900, as a holiday home for Sir Edward Holt, a wealthy Manchester brewer. It is near the town of Bowness-on-Windermere with views looking over Windermere and across to the Coniston Fells. Blackwell has survived with almost all its original decorative features intact, and is listed Grade I as an outstanding example of British domestic architecture. The house is furnished with original furniture and objects from the period. The gardens were designed by Thomas Mawson in a series of terraces. Flowers and herbs border the terraces, which form sun traps on the south side of the house. The house has been open to visitors since 2001 and hosts regular exhibitions including work by living artists such as Edmund de Waal in 2005. It won the Small Visitor Attraction Award in the Northwest of England for 2005. The house is managed by the Lakeland Arts Trust.

Storrs is a hamlet in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. It lies 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Bowness-on-Windermere, on the A592 road, close to the east shore of the lake, Windermere.Historically a part of Westmorland, the most notable landmark is the Grade II* listed Georgian mansion and folly at Storrs Hall.