2025
We will open our guest house and cottages on Friday 27th December and close on Monday 6th January. We will be open for guests who want a romantic weekend break on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th February. We open for the 2025 season on Friday 28th February and our rooms and cottages are now available to book until Monday 3rd November. Do please book early for bank holiday weekends and the weekend of the Great North Swim on 13th – 15th June. These dates are always in high demand and are very likely to be fully booked by March.
We have not increased our prices for 2025. Our most competitive rates will always be available directly from us via our website. It may be a very slightly easier process to book via Booking.com, Expedia or Airbnb. You will pay upwards of 15% commission to book this way and it ties our hands should you wish to amend your booking in any way.
Save Windermere
We are committed in our support of the Save Windermere campaign. The campaign is asking the government to commit to providing Windermere with greater protection, to ensure its long-term ecological health. Greater protection is the first of the long-term goals in the plan for a sewage free lake.
The Save Windermere campaign began due to the simple, verifiable statistic that in 2020, over 7000 hours of untreated sewage was flowing into Windermere, mainly from our local rivers.
Read the campaign’s open letter here - Open Letter
Ways in which you can support the campaign - Support
We are proud of our partnership with the wonderful Ecologi to ensure we are a carbon responsible business.
We began our partnership with Ecologi in March 2021.
Since 2021, we have funded 579 trees and contributed to the following projects -
Welcome to the Lake District, Cumbria: a place which has it all, from stunning natural landscapes to world-class food and drink. Here, lakes, mountains, forests and coast all combine to create a destination you’ll want to return to time and time again. From a famously warm welcome to fantastic attractions; the great outdoors to arts, culture and heritage, there are so many reasons to visit. Plus, did we mention it’s easy to get here and travel around without your car?
Getting to the Lake District, Cumbria by train via the west coast main line with Avanti is quick and easy, with direct services transporting you to this beautiful part of the country:
Once you’re here, it’s simple and straightforward to continue your journey on public transport, as Stagecoach run regular bus services to our beautiful towns and villages. Sit back, relax, and take in the stunning scenery along the way. Some routes feature open top buses, and the views are simply breath taking.
Click here for some quick and easy ways to start planning your journey:
Both of our cottages are now available to book, for stays of 2 or more nights, from March to November 2024. Our most competitive prices are here on our own website. #bookdirect
We would like to share the following two reviews from Airbnb guests who stayed in our cottages this autumn. Positive feedback is always very gratefully received.
Emil - The Cranny - October 2022
Stayed here at the Cranny with my partner for a couple days for a romantic break and we were not disappointed. We were greeted promptly by Andrew who was very friendly and knowledgeable of the area and gave us some advice as it was our first time in Windermere. He ensured the room was prepared for us and the heating was set. The Cranny, which was ideally situated on a quiet road a few minutes walk from both Bowness and the centre of Windermere, was a home from home having a cosy, welcoming feel with its red and white theme and a couple rustic features. There were plenty of amenities and thoughtful touches including the fresh milk and cake provided to make our stay just that more memorable. We were both pleasantly surprised with the numerous essentials provided such as oil, salt and pepper and cleaning supplies. Had everything we needed including plenty of dishes and cookware, the cooking facilities comprised of a mini oven/grill with 2 hot plates perfect for cooking up a breakfast. We both enjoyed the addition of a Sky box and a couple board games for relaxing in the evenings after exploring the Lakes. There was plentiful hot water and bathroom amenities which we were thankful for after adventuring in the mountains. All in all we had a brilliant stay and didn’t want to leave, we will definitely be returning!
Dianne - The Nook - November 2022
Highly recommend staying here - perfect cottage for two in a wonderful location. The cottage look great in the photographs and they don't actually do it justice! Obviously a lot of care has gone into making it the ideal holiday retreat. Clean, comfortable, homely, very well equipped and ample space for two to relax after days out exploring the area.
Both of our cottages are now available to book, for stays of 2 or more nights, from March to October 2023. Our most competitive prices are here on our own website. #bookdirect
Winter Works
We have fully redecorated our one bedroom cottage (The Nook) with new flooring, new feature wallpaper, a new TV, new outside terrace seating and new soft furnishings. The Nook now carries a heavy Lake District theme. We have also had a new fire alarm system and new sounders fitted throughout the property.
Covid 19 Measures
We will offer the following beyond 1st March ‘22 to ensure all our guests are safe and feel comfortable during their stay.
Award
We are pleased with our Traveller Review Award for 2022 from Booking.com. It recognises our review score (for the last 36 months, comprising almost 200 reviews) of 9.5 out of 10. Our score for cleanliness is 9.7 out of 10. This award complements our Travel Proud Award for our inclusive welcome and our Travel Sustainable Award for our commitment to operating sustainably. Whilst we greatly value our guests who reach us through Booking.com, our most competitive rates are always found by booking directly through our own website. Last minute deals, late availability and special promotions are only available via our website. #bookdirect
Caring for the Lake District
I have recently been appointed a trainee Fix the Fells volunteer. Fix the Fells volunteers are a large and dedicated group that regularly walk all our upland paths to keep on top of basic maintenance, help build and repair them on work parties and support Fix the Fells in many other ways. You can support the vital work of Fix the Fells in a number of ways – click here for details.
I was honoured to take part in the Fell Care Day, organised by Friends Of The Lake District, on 5th November. Under the excellent leadership of a Fix The Fells team, I was shown a range of techniques used to repair and maintain footpaths across the fells. The images below show work being carried out to footpaths on Mardale Ill Bell and Nan Bield Pass.
Fix the Fells has already repaired more than 200 paths. There are currently 344 paths covering 410 miles identified for repair work, maintenance or monitoring.The number and priorities change over time as some paths erode more quickly and new ones are identified.
Click here to find out more about Fix The Fells. Click here to make a donation.
Click here for the excellent Lake District Guide for 2021.
Thank you once again to our partners at Cumbria Tourism for producing this outstanding resource showcasing the range of attractions and places to eat across Cumbria.
The car free and dark skies sections are definitely worth a look. We have dedicated pages on our website offering details on walks from Ivythwaite and stargazing for beginners.
We will offer the following beyond 19th July to ensure all our guests are safe and feel comfortable during their stay.
We use an anti-viral spray on all soft furnishings in the cottages between each guest, in addition to the usual disinfectant on all fixtures and fittings.
The bed linen and towels are sent to a commercial laundry for cleaning where it is boil washed.
The bed protectors are obviously changed between each guest and subject to a high temperature wash.
The cottage information leaflet and all items in the hospitality tray are new to you.
We have removed all tourist information leaflets and instead encourage you to use Cumbria Tourism’s website for links to all attractions. We do still have copies of leaflets, guide books and recommended walks so please just ask if you would like one.
We will wear face masks when checking in guests.
If you would like any more information or clarification, please just ask us.
Andrew and Abigail, July ‘21
We are pleased to team up with High Spirits Leisure Group to offer our guests 10% discount at each of the following venues in Bowness on Windermere, Ambleside and Coniston. The venues are currently not taking advance bookings - just turn up and one of the team will seat you, space permitting. Please ask us for your 10% discount card before you go. Click on the venue name to link to its website.
Bowness on Windermere
The Flying Pig - British pub serving British dishes and cask ales
Caffe Riva - contemporary and relaxed Italian restaurant and bar
The Arts Bar - celebration of great food and perfectly crafted drinks
Ambleside
The Flying Fleece - British pub serving British dishes and cask ales
Ambleside Tap Yard - a destination for craft beer and real ale enthusiasts
Coniston
The Yewdale Inn - traditional Lakeland pub
Enzo's Caffe and Pizzeria - wood fired pizzeria, Italian coffees and cakes
Click here for the excellent 'Experience Adventure in the Lake District' interactive guide, produced by Cumbria Tourism.
We are pleased to share news of two awards that we have received this week. We are now Booking.com Proud Certified, in recognition of our inclusive approach. Travellers looking for an inclusive stay will know that our property is somewhere they can comfortably show up as themselves and be confident of a warm welcome, no matter who they are. We have also been awarded a Tripadvisor 2021 Travellers' Choice award because, based on our guest reviews,we rank in the top 10% of listings on Tripadvisor.
We have once again been working with Cumbria Tourism, the AA and VisitBritain to ensure that Ivythwaite Cottages are taking all necessary steps since we opened in April. We have submitted our plans to VisitBritain and the AA who have assessed them against industry best practice. We are VisitBritain 'We're Good To Go' and an AA ‘Covid19 Confident’ holiday cottages.
We made some changes to our usual practice last summer which we will keep in place for re-opening. These are detailed below:
We pride ourselves on our high standards of cleanliness, however, we are now using an anti-viral spray on all soft furnishings in the cottage between each guest, in addition to the usual disinfectant on all fixtures and fittings.
The bed linen is sent to a commercial laundry for cleaning where it is boil washed.
The towels and bed protectors are obviously changed between each guest and subject to a high temperature wash.
The cottage information leaflet and all items in the hospitality trays are new to you.
We have removed all tourist information leaflets and instead encourage you to use Cumbria Tourism’s website for links to all attractions. However, we do still have copies of leaflets so please just ask if you would like one. Andrew also has a good collection of recommended walks and guide books which you are welcome to borrow if you wish.
Government guidelines state that handwashing is key and that soap and water is the best way to do this. We therefore ask you please to wash your hands before you leave your cottage.
There are other things that we are doing behind the scenes to try to ensure that you have a safe stay with us, but we believe that you are here to relax and enjoy yourselves so have just given you the highlight here. If you would like any more information or clarification, please just ask us.
Andrew and Abigail, May ‘21
We have recently started working in partnership with Ecologi to become a climate positive organisation. Ecologi are a fantastic environmental organisation which fund climate projects around the world. Although our partnership is a new one, we can already boast -
Our initial goals are 10 tonnes of carbon reduction and 100 new trees planted.
We would encourage everyone to look at the Ecologi website, take a look at what they are doing and sign up to be climate positive.
We are delighted to (provisionally) open our two self catering holiday cottages from Monday 12th April. We continue to work with the AA, Visit England and Cumbria Tourism to ensure we are again fully Covid19 prepared and are taking all necessary precautions, both prior to opening and while guests are with us. Do please message us or call us on 01539 488914 if you have any queries or questions.
We have limited availability across the summer months. If you are looking for a September or October getaway, we suggest you make your booking sooner rather than later. Cottage bookings through our website come with free cancellation until 14 days before check in.
Andrew and Abigail, February '21
With no prospect of the national lockdown being lifted soon, we have closed Ivythwaite Cottages until early March. We are grateful for the support shown by our guests who have had their bookings with us amended or cancelled. We will be in contact with guests who have bookings in March when we have a clearer picture about when and how the hospitality sector will reopen. Stay well.
Best wishes,
Andrew and Abigail, Ivythwaite Cottages
Ivythwaite Cottages will close tomorrow (31st December) in line with English government guidelines. Please follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook (via the links on this website) for our most up to date information. We wish all of our past, future and potential guests a very happy new year. Please stay safe.
Andrew and Abigail
We are pleased to report that our guest house and self catering cottages will re-open this coming weekend. We will be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and open again on 27th December into the new year where we currently have some availability
We recommend booking restaurant tables in advance, for both weekday and weekend stays. See the 'Eating Out' tab for our full list of local recommendations. Attractions will also need to be booked in advance with most operating timed tickets.
Ivythwaite Cottages will temporarily close tomorrow (4th November) in line with English government guidelines. Whilst we will miss our guests and long to share the beautiful Lake District with you, we will always follow government advice about when it is safe for us to re-open. Please follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook (via the links on this website) for our most up to date information.
We would like to say a big thank you to all of our guests who have taken the time to send us their best wishes during this difficult time and our thoughts go out to all others who are finding this a challenging time. We are also extremely grateful to all key workers for everything they do.
When we are able to re-open we will keep in place the changes to our normal practices that have served our guests well this summer and autumn. Please rest assured that we will be doing everything in our power to make your stay as comfortable, relaxing and enjoyable as usual.
Andrew and Abigail, November ‘20
Eco
We continue to follow our ‘Ten Green Steps’ to ensure we are operating in as sustainable a way as possible. There has been tremendous interest in our ‘Walks from Ivythwaite’ which are available as PDF guides and maps from the ‘Eco’ tab of our website. For guests taking the option of breakfast in our adjoining guest house, despite the amended arrangements for taking breakfast, we continue to offer water, juice, yoghurt, jams, marmalades, fresh cakes and muffins in re-usable glass containers. We bake our own bread and use local suppliers for all fresh produce.
Covid
We have received positive feedback about the arrangements we have made to keep our guests safe this summer. Our enhanced cleaning and sanitation procedures have led to even higher review scores for cleanliness. For guests taking the option of breakfast, we continue to wear masks and gloves when we are preparing, cooking and serving breakfast to our guests. It is a small inconvenience to make the environment safer for our guests. We continue to offer breakfast sittings at 8.30am and 9.15am with a maximum of three tables at each sitting to ensure adequate social distancing.
Vegan
We have received positive feedback from a number of our vegan guests this summer. We have a number of vegan options on our breakfast menu and are able to provide home baked vegan bread and muffins, soya spread, oat/soya/almond milk. We will be enhancing our vegan options over the winter months which we will incorporate into our exciting new breakfast menu to be launched in March ’21.
Seven weeks after opening, and operating under the ‘new normal’, we’re delighted that our guests continue to rate their stay with us highly.
As more restaurants, cafes and bars open up, our guests are finding it easier to find somewhere to eat. Some are asking for reservations whilst others are operating a walk-in service; we continue to recommend that you phone in advance if there is somewhere that you particularly want to visit. This is the same for attractions as well, most of whom are operating timed tickets and require advance booking.
The Lake District is its usual glorious self and although the tourist hotspots are busy with the pent-up demand from lockdown, there are still many places to go for some peace, solitude and gorgeous scenery. We look forward to welcoming you to Ivythwaite Lodge soon.
Andrew and Abigail, Ivythwaite Cottages
We have spoken to a number of guests/potential guests regarding the recent cut in VAT to 5% for businesses in the hospitality sector. I include below a summary of how this affects businesses across the sector. As a small business with a modest annual turnover, we are not VAT registered. We, and as a consequence our guests, do not benefit from this measure. Larger hotels and brands with multiple hotels do benefit.
Non-VAT registered hospitality businesses
Annual turnover below £85,000. Pays VAT on all supplies and services. Does not charge VAT to guests. Does not pay VAT to HMRC.
A reduction in VAT payable to HMRC does not affect non-VAT registered businesses.
VAT registered hospitality businesses
Annual turnover in excess of £85,000. Does not pay VAT on supplies and services. Charges VAT to guests. Pays VAT to HMRC.
A reduction in VAT payable to HMRC reduces annual costs for VAT registered businesses.
We have been working with VisitBritain to ensure that Ivythwaite Cottages are taking all necessary steps in advance of re-opening on 4th July.
We have submitted our plans to VisitBritain who have assessed them against industry best practice.
We have applied to the VisitBritain 'We're Good To Go' industry standard scheme - our application has been successful.
We have made some changes to our usual practice and these are detailed below:
We have removed any additional soft furnishings such as bed throws and cushions.
We pride ourselves on our high standards of cleanliness, however, we are now using an anti-viral spray on all soft furnishings in the cottages between each guest, in addition to the usual disinfectant on all fixtures and fittings.
The bed linen is sent to a commercial laundry for cleaning where it is boil washed.
The towels and bed protectors are obviously changed between each guest and subject to a high temperature wash.
The cottage information leaflet and all items in the hospitality tray are new to you.
We have removed all tourist information leaflets and instead encourage you to use Cumbria Tourism’s website for links to all attractions. However, we do still have copies of leaflets so please just ask if you would like one. Andrew also has a good collection of recommended walks and guide books which you are welcome to borrow if you wish.
Government guidelines state that handwashing is key and that soap and water is the best way to do this. We therefore ask you please to wash your hands before you leave your cottage.
There are other things that we are doing behind the scenes to try to ensure that you have a safe stay with us, but we believe that you are here to relax and enjoy yourselves so have just given you the highlight here. If you would like any more information or clarification, please just ask us.
We are delighted to have secured a silver award from Green Tourism in recognition of our sustainable practices. We are fully committed to working with the knowledgeable staff at Green Tourism on our journey to greater sustainability.
Statement from Green Tourism -
Ivythwaite has done an excellent job achieving the Silver Green Tourism award following on from their first Green Check assessment. The website has a good section called Eco that talks about their commitment and the 10 steps. In addition, there is some fantastic information on walking and cycling routes in the area. Ivythwaite is LED equipped, they have installed a Hive system to help monitor and control the heating, and it was great to hear their average temperature is (very slightly) below that of others in the area. To encourage the use of public transport they can store luggage on arrival and departure. Breakfast showcases the local delights the area has to offer and includes some homemade items such as bread, cakes etc. This is just the beginning of their journey and I have sure Ivythwaite will continue to increase their score and move up the award levels.
We are delighted to open our guest house and cottages from Saturday 4th July. We are working with the AA, Visit England and Cumbria Tourism to ensure we are fully Covid19 prepared and are taking all necessary precautions, both prior to opening and while guests are with us. We will publish full details of these measures before we open. Do please call us on 01539 488914 if you have any queries or questions.
We offer a range of gift vouchers if you would like to treat a loved one to a stay in our traditional Lakeland guest house. A number of previous guests have purchased these recently and are giving them to friends and family as something to look forward to when we’re able to move around more freely.
They last for 12 months from the date of purchase, although this can be extended in certain circumstances, and can be for any number of nights (with a minimum of two) in any of our five individually styled bedrooms. Prices vary according to room and date.
We also offer gift vouchers to enhance any stay and these can be purchased as a surprise for your partner, or to treat family and friends who have made a reservation with us. These gift vouchers start at £15 and can be personalised, but typically contain flowers, locally made chocolates and other luxury items.
Andrew and Abigail, June '20
The government has said that hospitality will probably start to open up from 4th July; and whilst we don’t know an exact date yet, we are hopeful that our lovely self-catering cottage and studio apartment will be welcoming guests back very soon. We’re waiting for further guidance but in the meantime, we are doing as much as we can to prepare.
Fortunately, The Nook and The Cranny are both entirely self-contained with their own external entry, and for The Nook a lovely private sun terrace. We normally pride ourselves on how well stocked our cottage and studio are but in the current circumstances we have removed some kitchen equipment and soft furnishings to ensure greater safety for all our guests. We always do a deep clean between our guests but will obviously take heed of any additional guidance issued. This may mean that on occasion we won’t always be able to accommodate requests for early or late check in/out, but we will continue to do our best to do so.
We’re very excited at the prospect of re-opening and welcoming guests back to the gorgeous Lake District.
Andrew and Abigail, June '20
Ivythwaite Cottages are temporarily closed following government guidelines. Whilst we are missing our guests and longing to share the beautiful Lake District with you, we will always follow government advice about when it is safe for us to re-open. Please follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook (via the links at the bottom of the homepage) for our most up to date information.
We would like to say a big thank you to all of our guests who have taken the time to send us their best wishes during this difficult time and our thoughts go out to all others who are finding this a challenging time. We are also extremely grateful to all key workers for everything they do.
When we are able to re-open we will be making some changes to our normal practices to ensure that we all stay safe. Whilst we pride ourselves on our cleanliness, something which is routinely reflected in our reviews, we will take some extra precautions to ensure that your cottage or studio is deep cleaned and disinfected in preparation for your arrival. Please rest assured that we will be doing everything in our power to make your stay as comfortable, relaxing and enjoyable as usual.
Andrew and Abigail, May ‘20
