A beautiful secret pool awaits holidayers in the Lake District. Rydal Bower, between Grasmere and Ambleside, is a gorgeous pool tucked away by a cascading waterfall
One of Britain’s best kept secrets could see travellers in a holiday paradise only a few hours drive from their own doorstep.
The beautiful Lake District is one of the UK’s best-loved national parks. Artists, poets and generations of hikers have taken in its landscape and gazed upon hills cut into by glaciers over a period of several centuries, creating plush green slopes, deep valleys and blue lakes. Poet William Wordsworth, who lived in the Lake District lamented the scenery in a number of his poems, including in ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’. The Lake District National Park website says: “The English Lake District is a self-contained mountain area whose narrow, radiating glaciated valleys, steep fells and slender lakes exhibit an extraordinary beauty and harmony.
“This landscape reflects an outstanding fusion between a distinctive communal farming system that has persisted for at least a millennium with improvements of villas, picturesque planting and gardens during the 18th and 19th centuries.” Among its babbling brooks and silver streams, the Lake District even has some of the best wild swimming spots in the UK. The Conde Nast travel website said it is “where the majestic colours might just distract you from the plummeting temperatures” and wrote about the pool at Rydal Bower near Ambleside. This hard-to-reach spot can be “found by following signs to Rydal Falls”.
The website Wild Swimming describes the aquatic secret: “A narrow dark cleft between rock walls and Waterfall or Gorge, crowned with rowan. Very deep (4m) and cold with cliff to jump from. Hidden deep in the woods with magical qualities.” One person commented on their own experiencing. They said: “A wonderful swim. As the book says, you get a real sense of the ancientness and the magic of the place. Came here early September after a lovely swim at Buckstone’s Jum, you simply walk down from it along the river. Upon arrival, you feel like you’ve discovered a secret swimming hole, completely hidden from the world. Definitely worth the scramble down from Buckstone’s Jum!” Of course, Brits might be minded to swim in the summer instead of the colder temperatures we are beginning to face now as autumn lurches ever closer to winter’s chilly embrace.
Conde Nast also recommended the Forest Side Hotel in Grasmere, where people can enjoy a “soak in a standalone bath as well as the 10-course tasting menu, with ingredients foraged from the walled garden”. The beautiful hotel comes in as quite pricey, with one night in November coming in at over £350 for two people, but Brits on a budget can always have a look at an Airbnb if they want something cheaper.
