Last weekend I went to the Lake District for a long weekend away with my ‘foodie’ group of friends (the same group I went to Bologna/Osteria Francescana, and South of France/Mirazur with) for a very special dinner at L’Enclume in Cartmel, and Frank came too! It was our second dog-friendly ‘staycation’ after going to Manchester in March, and we had the best time exploring this beautiful part of England.
We started our journey from South London up to the Lake District on the Thursday evening. My friends all went up on the train the following day, but I wanted to drive Frank up there, and it meant we had more freedom to explore the Lakes, as lots of taxis don’t like taking dogs. We had the best weekend, so I wanted to tell you all about what we got up to!
So, ready to read all about my weekend exploring the Lake District with my dog? Let’s go!
On our way up to Birmingham we stopped off at Bicester Village for dinner and a bit of a walk to stretch our legs, and then stayed overnight in Birmingham at the Moxy NEC (my favourite dog-friendly hotel chain so far). It took about two hours to get from South London to Bicester because of the traffic, then just under an hour from Bicester to the Birmingham NEC.
Staying overnight in Birmingham enroute
I chose the Moxy NEC in Birmingham for our one-night stopover because it’s *so* close to the M42. It cost around £80 for the night, although annoyingly they charged me the £20 dog fee (the Moxy in Manchester never charged it!), so the total was £100.
It was 100% worth the cost though as it really helped with the journey as we were driving during that awful 40°C heatwave. I’m not great with long car journeys as it is, so I like to break them up as much as possible (5 hours in a car is kinda my max), but during the heatwave it was extra important for me, Frank, and my poor old car!
The Moxy NEC was perfect. We arrived around 9pm and I got Frank settled and had an early night.
Visiting Lowther Castle
The next day I set off fairly early to try and beat the Friday traffic. We were meeting my friends in Cartmel, where we were staying for the weekend, but I had some time before everyone else arrived and wanted to stop off at Lowther Castle.
After a long journey, we finally arrived at Lowther Castle in the afternoon, and Frank was in his element. It’s fully dog-friendly, and they’re even allowed in the little museum section of the castle. The castle itself is breathtaking and absolutely magical – it’s actually a castle ruin, but it’s full of plants and trees growing within it.
History of Lowther Castle
The castle was first built in the 1800s, and closed in 1937. Weirdly, the castle became ruined not from a fire or deterioration, but on purpose. The Lowther family couldn’t afford to use or maintain the castle so in 1954 offered to give it away to the National Trust and various other institutions. However, in the post-war years they did not find takers and they all declined to take it on. To avoid taxes the family stripped the castle and removed the roof.
In 2000 the National Trust came up with a plan in collaboration with English Heritage to create the Lowther Castle & Garden Conservation Plan, and after the castle and 130 acres of grounds were transferred to a charity called the Lowther Castle and Gardens Trust in 2007, the site opened to the public in 2011.
Lowther Castle is super dog-friendly
A lot of National Trust places will allow dogs in the general grounds, but not the houses, museums, or formal gardens. So to be able to go to into the castle/gardens and the indoor museum exhibition with the dog (on a lead, of course) was really nice.
The interior of the cafe unfortunately isn’t dog-friendly, but there’s seating outside that is dog-friendly, and they had an outside kiosk where I got a gelato.
Check-in & Dinner at the Cavendish Arms, Cartmel
After our little visit to Lowther Castle, Frank and I hopped back into the car and drove on to Cartmel. I’d booked us in at the Cavendish Arms, right in the heart of the village, as it’s the only hotel/B&B in Cartmel that is dog-friendly and is right next door to L’Enclume.
The staff at the Cavendish were brilliant with him and gave us a beautiful little room (Number 10) with a balcony so he could sit outside on the balcony and watch everything going on.
Three of the girls arrived later in the evening so we had a late dinner together at the Cavendish, and were blown away by the food there! We enjoyed cocktails, mains and desserts, and it was the loveliest way to properly start our weekend in the Lake District!
Frank decided to fall asleep right in the middle of the floor though, so everyone had to step over him haha.
Spending the day on Lake Windermere
The following day we woke up bright and early and all piled into my car to go for a drive around Lake Windermere. Some of our other friends were arriving that day in time for the dinner in the evening, and Sid and his wife Victoria were planning to meet us for a boat trip on the lake at midday.
I drove us girlies (+ Frank) up to Lake Grasmere, which was beautiful, and we then had a little wander around Ambleside.
Lake Windermere Boat Cruise
We then made our way back down to Bowness-on-Windermere to get the boat trip. The boat is fully dog-friendly and we had pre-booked the 45-minute ‘Blue’ cruise with Windermere Lake Cruises.
Thankfully we managed to find parking (although I would suggest allowing about 45-60mins to find parking during peak times as it gets very busy in the summer months), and met Sid and Victoria in the boat queue. Tickets are only £11 for the boat (dogs go free!) which was very good value.
The boat trip was absolutely perfect, it was so lovely and a really nice little intro to the Lake Windermere and the islands on the lake. We sat indoors as it was really very hot, and with Victoria pregnant and Frank with his permanent fur coat, we didn’t want the two of them getting overheated! We did all pop outside onto the back deck every so often though.
A late lunch at Boardwalk Bar & Grill
After our boat trip we then went to dog-friendly Boardwalk Bar & Grill for a light lunch. We all had salads as we wanted to save ourselves for dinner later on, so I didn’t get any photos as they weren’t particularly photogenic, but they were really delicious!
Exploring Cartmel Village
After lunch I drove us back to Cartmel and we parted ways until dinner that evening. The others wanted naps due to the heat (it was a 38°C day), and I wanted to take Frank for a little walk around the village.
It’s such a cute village with lots of cafes and restaurants, a lovely little river, and a church. I tried to go into the church about three times over the weekend as it’s apparently quite famous, but every time I tried it was closed and the doors were locked!
Dinner at L’Enclume in Cartmel
And then it was time for our dinner at Simon Rogan’s 3-Michelin starred L’Enclume. Sadly L’Enclume is not dog friendly, so I left a snoozing Frank in our room at the Cavendish arms with the fan on him, his big bowl of water, and his food. He was so zonked out after our day in the sunshine that when I returned to him five hours later he didn’t even hear me come into the room as he was still fast asleep!
Our 16-course dinner at L’Enclume was absolutely incredible and one of the best meals I have ever had. There were twelve of us in our group dining there, so we were split across three tables which suited us perfectly.
I’ll tell you more about this very soon in a full review with loads of photos, so keep an eye out!
A Perfect Dog-Friendly Weekend
The next morning I took Frank for an early-morning walk and then enjoyed breakfast in the Cavendish Arms, before driving the long drive home on the sunday!
The Lake District is such a great option if you’re travelling with a dog! There’s just so much to do there and Frank had the best time – he even paddled in Lake Windermere, and he doesn’t usually like water.
We didn’t do a huge amount because of the weather, if it was cooler I would have made sure to take Frank to a few other places and bigger walks, but it was just too hot for his little feet so I had to be very careful in terms of where we went and how strenuous it was. My aunt and uncle live in Kendal, so I’ve been to the Lake District lots of times before and a few of my other favourite things there include:
- World of Beatrix Potter (not dog-friendly sadly)
- Hill Top House, Beatrix Potter’s house which is now a National Trust property (not dog-friendly)
- The Lakeland Motor Museum (dog-friendly)
- Furness Abbey (dog-friendly)
- Allan Bank and Grasmere (dog-friendly)
- Walk up to Scafell Pike
- Walk around Grasmere Lake
- Walk at Scout Scar Mushroom
Watch My Lake District Weekend Vlog
Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of SEO at Havas Media Group by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.
