C  O  N  I  S   T  O  N  ^.  T  H  E     L  A  K  E    D  I  S  T  R   I  C  T


Bed & Breakfast and Self-Catering Holiday Cottage Accommodation
East of Lake Road, Coniston, Cumbria LA21 8AA ^. Tel: 015394 41264 ^. Email:info@bankground.com

Local Activities and Attractions

Places to Eat
Horse Riding
Sailing and boating
Mountain Biking

PLACES TO EAT.

 Cafés:

The Meadowdore                Coniston Village.

          - A lively café in the centre of Coniston village, good meals, good cakes, and also does take away.

Jumping Jenny                    Brantwood.

          -A nice café overlooking the lake quite pricey, excellent soups.

Lucy’s on a plate, Ambleside

          - A Mediterranean styled café with some interesting dishes and a nice atmosphere.

Chesters, Skelwith Bridge

          - A unique but quite expensive Café next to Kirkstone galleries, good cakes, well worth a visit.

Pubs:

Queens Head, Hawkshead, (015394) 36271

          - A good village pub in the centre of Hawkshead serving meals in the bar and a separate dining room. Winner of the good pub food award.

The Drunken Duck, Coniston-Ambleside Road, Near Tarn Hows (015934) 36347

          - A country pub serves bar meals and has a separate dining room, also the home of Barngates brewery.

Black Bull, Coniston, (015394) 41335

            - The best of the village pubs as far as food is concerned, serves traditional pub bar meals and brew’s it’s own beer. Bluebird Bitter and Old Man Ale.

The Blacksmith’s Arms, Broughton Mills, (01229) 716824

          - An old fashioned pub, low-ceilings and stone floors, the food is traditional and usually of a high standard.

Restaurants:

Spindles, Coniston, (015394) 41256

          - A small Family restaurant good food cooked to order. Reasonably priced. Booking advisable.

The Glass House, Ambleside, (015394) 32137

          - A converted watermill in the centre of Ambleside. Good food quite pricey. Booking is strongly recommended.

The Port Hole, Bowness-on-Windermere, (015394) 42793

          - An Old Fashioned Italian-Styled restaurant in the centre of Bowness. Booking is strongly recommended. A nice place for lunch if you are in the area.

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HORSE RIDING/PONY TREKKING

Spoon Hall Trekking Centre ( Coniston )

Bookings and Enquiries Tel:- (015394) 41391

Spoon Hall welcomes both experienced riders and beginners to ride a unique route from Spoon Hall across the foot of Coniston Old Man, with spectacular views across the lake.

The route for this ride begins at Spoon Hall and goes across their fields to the moor below the Old Man of Coniston. Leaving the fields you proceed across Banishead moor towards Walna Scar. You then descend down through some woodland before emerging on the old disused railway line and heading for home. 

This ride takes you across Banishead moor towards the foot of the lake and has spectacular views towards Torver, the Furness peninsula and Broughton moor; the ride then loops round across the fells and joins the 1-hour route.

 Pony rides are available for children under 7 years of age. The ride goes from the farm across the fields and along the old railway line and takes around 15-20 minutes.

A member of staff accompanies the child at all times.

Riding Hats are provided for all customers.

If you wish to partake in an experienced ride please say so at the time of booking.

Directions:

The centre is situated 1 mile from the centre of Coniston Village on the A593 (the main (Coniston to Torver road). As you head out of the village you turn right at the Catholic Church and take the left fork under the bridge to Spoon Hall.

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Sailing and Boating from Bankground on Coniston Water.

Bankground is ideally situated for all water based activities whether you have your own boats, sailboards or Canoes or whether you just want to hire.

We have an enclosed boating area where dinghies and other small craft can be launched, and in the not too distant future intend to build a slipway to accommodate the launching of larger craft. Adjacent to the boating area there is a small Jetty which can be used, and we are also hoping to restore two boathouses and offer the use of these to our guests.

As most people who have read this far will realise Arthur Ransome wrote his children’s story Swallows and Amazons from here and the house and grounds were used both in the book and film. Bankground is therefore the ideal location from which to retrace this adventure.

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Mountain Biking:

Bank Ground is ideally situated for some of the best off road cycling in the Lake District. We are just 300 yards from a green road that gives direct access to Grizedale forest. Grizedale is the largest Forestry in the Lake District National Park and has a number of good cycle routes. Windermere, Bowness, Ambleside, Grasmere and the Langdales are essentially the hub of tourism in the Lake District, which results in relatively heavy traffic making cycling difficult, not to mention dangerous, at busy times of the year.

For the less adventurous there are some gentler routes combining quiet scenic country lanes and paths, a cycle ride to Tarn Hows the nearby and popular Lake District beauty spot is also a distinct possibility.

We are quite happy to store bikes and have plenty of room as long as we are informed in advance.

Cycle Hire is available from Summitreks in Coniston Village: Tel:- (015394) 41212