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The Lake District

Savvy Tips

• If you are planning to travel around the Lake District a lot on foot then it might be worth taking up membership of the Youth Hostel Association for £13 a year. This gives you access to numerous hostels across the area, which charge as little as £10/12 for a night’s accommodation ­ often in stunning locations.

• Don’t travel up to the Lake District by train from London on a Friday! The train companies charge a premium to travel on the most popular day of the week. You can save money if you book an APEX ticket ­ the companies keep a few tickets for each train so book early.

• If you are exploring more than one destination, pick up the free booklet ‘Getting Around Cumbria’ ­ this gives details of local bus services operated by Stagecoach, linking Kendal, Windermere, Ambleside and Coniston amongst others.

• Shop around for good restaurant deals ­ some allow you to bring your own alcohol (Pippins in Ambleside for example) or you can make use of kitchen facilities at a number of youth hostels to cook for yourself.

• The National Trust looks after 25 per cent of the land within the Lake District national park. An annual membership card will give you free entry to most of their properties in the area ­ and 300 across the UK. You will also get free parking at the 21 pay and display car parks across the Lakes region. At the moment there’s a special offer if you buy annual membership by direct debit - £45 for a family ticket instead of the usual £60 ­ that’s around 12p per day.

Money Matters

• 14 million people visit England’s Lake District every year. The crowds can make it difficult to “wander lonely as a cloud” and push up the costs of holidaying in the National Park.

• The crowds concentrate on Lake Windermere where you find the highest concentration of souvenir shops and restaurants. Yet even here there are cheaper places to stay ­ a bed in a Youth Hostel costs just £12 a night compared with up to £295 for a room at the boutique hotel The Samling.

• It costs nearly £64 for a one-way ticket from London Euston to Windermere. National Express though charges £26.50 for a coach from London Victoria ­ although this does take around two hours longer.

• Our research found that the Lakes could be an expensive destination to visit. Our mystery shoppers found that a glass of wine in a café cost £2.52 against a European average of £1.87. A ham and cheese sandwich in a local café cost £2.39 ­ in Portugal the average price was £1.03.

• Quieter towns in the Lake District, such as Coniston and Elterwater have slightly cheaper accommodation and no less splendid walks and views.