Latterbarrow &
Claife Heights
from Far Sawrey
12th June 2025
8.7 miles / 14.0 km
489 m ascent
Moderate
11.1 Naismith miles
Latterbarrow &
Step by Step | OS Map | Downloads | Gallery | Fly through
This walk to Latterbarrow and Claife Heights – to the west of Windermere – is at the far end of our range, which we tend to think of as within one hour of driving time. Add a longer than average walk to that, and we have a full day to manage – hence our early start.
Was this extra effort worthwhile? Absolutely . . . the walking to the west side of the lake is quieter and more tranquil than to the east, and the views are just as good. Add secluded tarns, links to Beatrix Potter, woodland paths, fungi, lots of wildlife, a great view from the peak of Latterbarrow, Basecamp, the enchanting Scab Moss, a lovely lakeside track, and finally a welcoming pub at the end make this a walk to savour.
Step-by-Step
We start at Far Sawrey, using the Braithwaite Hall car park – payment for this is a via an honesty box with a suggested donation of £2 per car – very reasonable. Finding Far Sawrey is not difficult but be aware that the roads to it are small and mostly single track and having made the journey a few times we recommend taking the A590 to Newby Bridge to pick up the B5285 up the west side of Windermere, then just past Graythwaite Hall, take a right to High Cunsey. At the T junction in that village, go left to Far Sawrey. The Village Hall is just uphill from the Cuckoo Brow Inn.
If you are using Satnav to get there, the address for the village Hall is Braithwaite Hall, Far Sawrey, Ambleside LA22 0LQ, but be aware that your satnav may well direct you toward the ferry across the lake – a perfectly viable route, but not what you may have been expecting. If your device accepts What-3-Words tags, then blurred.violinist.judge pinpoints the car park, and corresponds to the OS grid reference SD37899540.
We start by exiting the Braithwaite Hall car park and walking back downhill toward the Cuckoo Brow Inn. We pass by (for now) and continue along the road for 50m before taking a tarmac track on the right – at the point where the road bears left. We continue up this track, passing the vicarage on the right. After 100m the track continues to the right and up to a farm at Cuckoo Brow Wood, and here, we need to take the smaller path to the left that is clearly signposted for Moss Eccles Tarn ½ mile.
50m ahead there is a footbridge over Wilfin Beck, with the path continuing uphill for 200m until it merges with another track feeding in from the left. This comes up from Near Sawrey, which is where Beatrix Potter’s house “Hill Top”, now managed by the National Trust, is located. It’s worth noting that if you plan to visit Hill Top, parking must be prebooked, so parking at Far Sawrey Village Hall and walking there via this route might make an interesting and more flexible alternative. To read more about Hill Top, click . . .
Once at the junction with the track up from Near Sawrey, we continue to the right. 75m later a track peels off to the left – and we stay right, then after another 50m there is a clear fork. We take the route to the right which soon brings us to Moss Eccles Tarn. Despite the name, this is probably not a natural tarn, but a man-made reservoir as evidenced by a dam at the far end and an absence of any indication of the existence of the tarn on old maps. It is no longer used as a drinking water supply and is now owned and managed by The National Trust. It is best known for its association with Beatrix Potter: After marrying William Heelis 1913, she lived in Castle Cottage in Far Sawrey and rowed on the tarn in summer evenings – Potter sketching near the tarn and her husband fishing in it.
In 1926, Potter bought part of the tarn, planting the water lilies and stocking it with fish.
Along with other parcels of land within the Lake District, it was left to the National Trust by Potter upon her death in 1943. It was probably a combination of Moss Eccles Tarn and Esthwaite Water, just 500m away that served as inspiration for the home of Jeremy Fisher in The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher.
We press on, ignoring a couple of forks in our track to the right such that we stay left and approach a gate with another tarn ahead of us – this is Wise Een Tarn. Like Moss Eccles, this is a man-made structure created from the mosses (bogs) that are prevalent on this plateau. One difference between these two tarns is that fishing is not allowed here.
Wise Een is the largest of this grouping of tarns. The water is held back by an earth dam, hence the unnatural grassy straight lines on the north-western edge. There is a boathouse on the far bank, although it is some way from the water for much of the year. There is no official path to the water’s edge, but it is only a short distance from the main path and is easily accessible. Note that there is a second small tarn to the East of Wise Een, this shows signs of now-disused sluice gates and so is assumed to have been a feeder to the larger tarn at some point.
Our path continues north moving away from the water, climbing toward plantations where there are numerous forest tracks. It would be easy to make a navigational error here, so having our GPX trail loaded on a suitable device might be a good idea. If that’s not possible, then take the larger and more prominent option every time you have a choice until you arrive at a clear T Junction with a much larger forestry road in about 500m.
Once at the forestry road we go left, then after about 100m, follow the road round to the right and uphill toward an area used for stacking timber prior to removal from the forest. Be aware that there may be forestry vehicles moving here so take care.
Just beyond the stacked timber we find a crossroads where a signpost indicates a path toward Hawkshead – we take this for just 75m, looking for a much smaller path on the right which takes us downhill and into dense woodland. This would be easy to miss, as there may be vehicles belonging to forestry workers obscuring the view.
We now head north along very narrow and somewhat overgrown paths, crossing a slightly broader track, which once served a disused quarry, then continuing north, before climbing up to a wall.
After crossing a stile, we loop round to the left and follow a flatter, though still narrow path for a while, passing a strangely high stile designed to give forestry workers access through a deer fence.
We continue with this path for another 400m or so, as it meanders around – eventually arriving at a stile signposted for Latterbarrow, where we start our climb to the peak. Note that the path on the ground here does not coincide exactly with that marked on the OS map, but the route is clear and obvious.
At the top of Latterbarrow there is an obelisk – clearly a carefully constructed monument to something or someone, although there is nothing present on site or even on-line to indicate exactly what / who it marks.
From the peak, relatively modest at 245m, we have great views toward Hawkshead, and the more northerly fells – click here to see a panorama shot.
This is a good place to pause for lunch – we are less than halfway round our loop at this point, but the majority of the climbing is done.
We initially continue in the same direction as our climb up to the peak, where we get views of Windermere and Ambleside on the far side of the lake. As we start to descend, we note that the path forks. We took the route to the right, but as the two routes come back together in a short while, either works. We head steeply downhill toward woodland which we enter via a gate. We follow the path for 100m until we cross a small beck, then climb until we meet another broad forestry road.
We go left here, and as the road comes round to the right, we notice a group of old camp buildings – this is Basecamp, now part of the Low Wray campsite complex belonging to the National Trust. Basecamp was the first of the National Trust’s residential volunteering centres and is now one of its busiest. The site’s connection to the National Trust is particularly strong, as one of the Trust’s founders, Hardwicke Rawnsley, lived and worked in the area and was deeply concerned with protecting the beauty of the Lake District.
To read more, click . . .
We head right at Basecamp, following a path southeast through woodland for a while. After 200m or so we cross a gate then continue along the drystone wall (on our left) passing a small waterfall on the right. 200m or so beyond this our path merges with another, and we enter Scab Moss – an area where much good work has been done to preserve and extend the unique habitat of the Cumbria bogland. Of particular interest are the dragon and damsel flies that breed along with the Sundew and Bladderwort, rare carnivorous plants that grow only in wet nutrient poor soils where insect life proliferates. These are fascinating species, but all are protected by law, so look but don’t touch.
At the end of the Scab Moss section of the walk we arrive at a clearing where five forestry trails meet. When we originally planned this walk, we had intended to go straight on into Rigg Intake, but extensive forestry works here mean that for a while it will be somewhat muddy, so instead we go hard left taking the route signed for Belle Grange.
Belle Grange is a rather fine house on the west bank of Lake Windermere and was originally owned by the Curwen family, who built the Round House on Belle Isle – which we see later. Our path now heads east through woodland. A number of paths come in from the right – we ignore all of these and continue downhill on a pleasant partially paved track for the next 400m.
We eventually meet a broad woodland track along the lakeside – we go right here following signs for Claife Viewing station – a National Trust property with great views of the lake. The path here is on a “miles without stiles” route and follows the lakeside for the next 2000m. Navigation is not an issue along this section, but be aware that the path is shared with cyclists. There are a couple of points where the path approaches the lakeside very closely, and one of these makes a great place to pause for a final time, enjoying the views over the lake toward Windermere town.
Between our path and the eastern shore of Windermere is Belle (or Bell) Isle. It is rumoured that in Roman times a villa was built on the island, with a possible connection to the Roman fort at Ambleside, and in 1250 it was the seat of the district’s Lord of the Manor.
What draws the eye now is the unusual circular building on the island: Island House was built in 1774 to designs by John Plaw. It is three storeys high with a four column portico; it draws inspiration from the Pantheon in Rome. The house was sold along with the island to the wealthy Curwen family who in an act of enduring shyness renamed the island after their daughter, Isabella.
Our next landmark is the point at which a path rises on the right into the woodland of Belt Ash Coppice – this is before the path round the lake enters a flat and tree-free section – so if you are walking on a flat path with no trees, you have gone just a bit too far.
The last section of the walk takes us uphill, over a ridge and back down to Far Sawrey. We climb steeply at first, avoiding any tempting paths on the right or left, until about 600m after leaving the lakeside path we emerge from woodland into more open land. We then see a track on the right which we ignore and press on until we glimpse the chimney stack of the Vicarage we passed right at the start of the day just above the ridge line. We soon meet a track above the vicarage and take it to the left following it down past the Sawrey Institute and back to the B5285 in Far Sawrey. Having been out in the sunshine all day, we thought it would be wise to rehydrate at The Cuckoo Brow Inn. Safety is important after all.
Bentham Footpath Group walks are classified according to length and ascent. At more than 12km, but less than 15km, this is a moderate walk. There are no unusually challenging conditions on the route.
