Lakes and Rivers

The clue is in the name: there are a lot of lakes in the Lake District. Sixteen, to be precise, though officially, only one of the sixteen - Bassenthwaite - is officially a lake by name; all of the others are called meres or waters.

And while most of the lakes were created by glacial deposits during the last Ice Age, two of them - Thirlmere and Haweswater - were much smaller lakes transformed into reservoirs so that the city of Manchester could have water. Haweswater was enlarged by the flooding of the Mardale Valley near Penrith in the 1930s; Thirlmere was raised 50 years earlier by submerging the villages of Amboth and Wythburn.   

The largest of the lakes - and the largest lake in all of England - is Windermere, which is over 11 miles long, nearly 5.7 square miles and (fun fact) holds 300 billion litres of water. The deepest is Wastwater in the west of the county, with a maximum depth of 243 feet. The smallest is Brotherswater in the Hartsop Valley of eastern Cumbria, a mere (see what we did there?) 0.07 square miles in size.

In fact, Brotherswater is so small that there’s some debate over whether it’s a lake at all or a tarn, a glacial pool usually found in the mountains. And in Cumbria, there are officially 197 of them (if you count Brotherswater).

Some of the most best-known tarns include Blea Tarn, Little Langdale Tarn, Sunbiggin Tarn and Tarn Hows. If you’re so inclined, you can take part in a bit of ‘tarn dipping,’ which is the watery alternative to doing the Wainwrights - and a lot less strenuous as all you have to do is dip your hand in a tarn to tick it off the list. One of the real pleasures of tarn dipping is that you’ll end up exploring some of the most beautiful parts of the Lake District. The high water mark for tarn dippers is Foxes Tarn on the side of Scafell Pike, England’s tallest mountain: just getting to it takes some effort, but you’re rewarded with some pretty fabulous views (plus the respect of all serious tarn dippers).

And if you want to pay your respects to Alfred Wainwright, his ashes are scattered about Innonimate Tarn, a lovely walk from Buttermere.

While lakes and tarns gets most of the attention, not to be ignored are Cumbria and the Lake District’s rivers, which besides feeding water into the lakes are the ideal destination for anglers and wild swimmers.

For more information on all the lakes in this area, choose from the selection below and check out our A-Z guide to the lakes of the Lake District.