Birk Fell

Aira Force is a waterfall in the English Lake District, in the civil parish of Matterdale and the county of Cumbria. The site of the waterfall is owned by the National Trust.

Patterdale (Saint Patrick's Dale) is a small village and civil parish in the eastern part of the English Lake District in Cumbria, in the traditional county of Westmorland, and the long valley in which they are found, also called the Ullswater Valley. The parish had a population of 460 in 2001, increasing to 501 at the 2011 Census. The poet William Wordsworth lived in youth near Patterdale and his autobiographical poem The Prelude narrates in Book 1 such childhood activities as fishing in the lake from a stolen boat. The village is now the start point for a number of popular hill-walks, most notably the Striding Edge path up to Helvellyn. Other fells that can be reached from the valley include Place Fell, High Street, Glenridding Dodd, most of the peaks in the Helvellyn range, Fairfield and St Sunday Crag, and Red Screes and Stony Cove Pike at the very end of the valley, standing either side of the Kirkstone Pass which is the road to Ambleside. Further up the valley to the north is the lake of Ullswater with Gowbarrow Fell and Hallin Fell overlooking it. The only tarn in the valley is Brothers Water, one of the first places in the Lakes to be acquired by the National Trust. The only other village in the valley is Glenridding. Patterdale village has a youth hostel, a church, a primary school and a hotel. In summer it can get quite busy, but not so much as Glenridding. Patterdale is considered to be a walkers' valley, and in fact Alfred Wainwright stated that it was his favourite valley in the Lake District as it is relatively undisturbed by tourism. Alongside Glenridding, Patterdale was also badly affected by Storm Desmond in December 2015.

Gowbarrow Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It is located on the lower slopes of Gowbarrow Fell and borders Ullswater lake. It is 2 km from the hamlet of Dockray. This protected area has an outstanding diversity of lichen species. Red squirrels have been recorded in this protected area.

Glenridding House is a Regency era building in Glenridding on Ullswater, constructed between 1807 and 1814. It was a private summer villa until about 1860 and then became a guest house. It has recently been fully restored and is now a country house bed and breakfast and wedding venue. The building is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

Glenridding is a village at the southern end of Ullswater, in the English Lake District. The village is popular with mountain walkers who can scale England's third-highest mountain, Helvellyn, and many other challenging peaks from there.

Arnison Crag is a fell in the English Lake District, an outlier of the Fairfield group in the Eastern Fells. It looks down on Patterdale village and the upper reach of Ullswater.

Glenridding Dodd (the rounded hill above Glenridding) is a small fell in the English Lake District, at the end of a ridge descending from the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells. It stands above the village of Glenridding and on the western shore of Ullswater. Although small and not of great elevation, its top is a fine viewpoint for Ullswater and for the fells clustered round the valleys above Patterdale.

Gowbarrow Fell (Windy hill) is a low fell in the English Lake District. It is an outlier of the Eastern Fells, standing to the north of Ullswater, bounded on one side by Aira Beck with its waterfall Aira Force. The waterfall is a popular attraction for visitors to the area. In previous centuries the fell was part of a medieval hunting-park, Gowbarrow Park, which belonged to the lords of Greystoke. The fell, along with 750 acres of the park, were bought by the National Trust in 1906.

Dockray (traditionally Dockwray) is a village in the civil parish of Matterdale, in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. In the 2011 census, the parish had 483 residents, roughly an 8% decrease from 526 residents in 2001. Dockray lies approximately eight miles south west of Penrith, and is accessible from the A5091 road. The village is popular among walkers, mostly to Aira Force, and various fells surrounding the village, most notably Gowbarrow Fell; Alfred Wainwright describes the ascent of Gowbarrow Fell from Dockray, but considers that other ascents are more attractive. The village has no amenities, aside from the Royal Hotel, the local inn and restaurant. In the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870, Dockwray was described as "a hamlet on the Aira rivulet, adjacent to Matterdale, in Cumberland. It commands a fine view over Ulles-water."

Boredale sometimes known as Boardale, is a valley within Lake District National Park, in Cumbria, England. The valley is close to the eastern shore of Ullswater and lies between the hills of Place Fell to the west and Beda Fell to the east. Boredale runs in a northerly direction for a distance of 4.5 km from its head at Boredale Hause to its convergence with the valley of Martindale. It is a thinly populated valley with the structures of Garth Heads, Howsteadbrow, Nettleslack and Boredale Head being the only inhabited buildings in the valley. The traditional stone and slate Nettleslack cottage dates from 1756, it was modernised in 1997 and is now rented out as holiday accommodation. There is a narrow tarmac road which runs up the valley for 2.5 km until it reaches the farm of Boredale Head, from here the road becomes a bridleway which climbs up on to the fells and reaches Boredale Hause at a height of 399 metres. Footpaths also leave the valley at the farm buildings of Garths Head and climb the hillsides to reach the summits of Place Fell and Beda Fell. The name of the valley means “valley with the herdman's hut or storehouse”, the linguistic source of this uncertain, coming either from the Old Norse word bur or the Old English word bir. In the year 1250 the valley was known as Burdal. Renowned Lake District writers William Wordsworth and Alfred Wainwright both used the incorrect spelling and usage of “Boardale” believing that it referred to pigs. Wainwright in his book “In The Valleys Of Lakeland” refers to Boredale as “unexciting but heaven is glimpsed on the approach and exit”. The valley is drained by Boredale Beck which rises on the slopes of Angletarn Pikes at height of 500 metres and flows northerly for five km to its confluence with Howegrain Beck, the main water course of the Martindale valley.

Ulcat Row (also Ulcatrow) is a village in the civil parish of Matterdale, in the Westmorland and Furness district, in the county of Cumbria, England. In the 2011 census, the parish had 483 residents, roughly an 8% decrease from 526 residents in 2001. Ulcat Row is located approximately eight miles south west of Penrith. The name originally meant "Owl Cottage Corner".

Hartsop is a small village in the English Lake District. It lies in the Patterdale valley, near Brothers Water, Hayeswater and Kirkstone Pass. It consists of 17th-century grey stone cottages, like so many of its neighbours. Hartsop retains its historic image, in that, in common with a number of other small Cumbrian villages, it had houses with spinning galleries. It was also a lead mining community. Hartsop Hall, in the care of the National Trust, is located on the far side of the valley from the village. The hall dates from the 16th century, formerly the home of the de Lancasters; in the 17th century it passed into the ownership of Sir John Lowther, a member of the family that later became Earls of Lonsdale. After that, it became used as an ordinary farmhouse. Local history relates that when the hall was extended in the 18th century, it was built across an ancient right-of-way, a right which at least one dalesman insisted on exercising, by walking through the hall. Hayeswater, an upland lake a mile east above the village, serves as a reservoir for the town of Penrith about 12 miles away. Hartsop is a popular starting point for hill walkers climbing on the High Street range and the Helvellyn range. The village is overlooked by Brock Crags and Hartsop Dodd. Hartsop is part of the civil parish of Patterdale.