Tales of the Lake District: A Self-Guided Drive Around Windermere
Overview
Available languages
Mobile ticket
Soak up the splendour of England’s largest lake, Windermere, on a scenic self-guided audio tour of the Lake District.
• Find out how Beatrix Potter and William Wordsworth are connected to the area and take it some of its famous sites
• Hear from producer Martin Wilson, the owner and producer of Lake District Drives
• Do it all in 3 hour or linger at stops along the way with complete control over when you start and finish
• Get unlimited use before your booking date and after it
• Use the virtual tour option at home
Once you’ve booked, you’ll receive a ticket with instructions and a unique code listed under “Before You Go”. Then simply install the VoiceMap app and enter your code.
The app displays directions to the starting point, and when you’re in the right place, just tap start. The app has automatic GPS playback, with turn-by-turn directions. It also works offline.
Additional Info
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
What To Expect
Bowness-on-Windermere
Starting near Bowness Bay, you’ll make an anticlockwise loop around Lake Windermere and hear tales of the area.
Lake Windermere
Soak up the splendour of England’s largest lake, Windermere, on a scenic self-guided driving tour of the Lake District.
Options
Tales of the Lake District: A Self-Guided Drive Around Windermere
What‘s Included
Lifetime access to this tour in English
VoiceMap app for Android and iOS
Offline access to audio, maps, and geodata
Tickets or entrance fees to any museums or other attractions en route
Smartphone and headphones
Transportation
Food and drink
Cancellation Policy
All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.
Reviews
14 reviews
Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor
Great day out.
Roving23744114597,Oct 6, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
4.00Found this easy to download and easy to use. No issues at all. Really helpful for us as my husband had an ankle operation and recovery has been slow meaning he can’t walk far at all at the moment. This was informative and he got to see some incredible views of the Lake District as well and it was something we could do together after lots of walking on my own! Lots of car park stops which can get expensive. Some are a minimum of 2 hours at about £6 but we drove in and out of some and stopped where we could for the view. Toilets are in several car parks too. Loads of refreshment stops available. All in all well worth the price and a lovely 4 hour trip for us.
Potentially a great way to explore Windermere
adamhC2904OP,Jul 23, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
3.00In principle a really great idea but unfortunately in practice was a challenge to get it up and running. I had already downloaded it so as to prepare for any connectivity issues but alas this didn't save us. My partner who is with a different network provider tried to get it up and running on her phone. She ended up purchasing it too just so we could get it going. After this we sort of got going but I was reliant on her giving me directions whilst she had the app running on her phone. We did find it informative and interesting when it was working but we did end up going off course a couple of times which was a bit frustrating. As said in principle great and perhaps a bit more practice and no doubt patience on our part we would have thoroughly enjoyed it. Be great if it could be integrated into Android Auto so that the route could come up on the dashboard (it probably could but we couldn't get it to do so). We ended up doing about 2/3's of the route in 4 hours. Best be warned of car parking charges.... they're quite expensive and can soon mount up given number of car parks visited. Advice would be to drive in and out of some and try and carefully plan in advance which ones you actually want to park up in.
Wonderful self guided drive
martinpeach,Sep 27, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Excellent app worked perfectly 4hour tour tour with plenty of stops Wouldn't have found half the places we stopped without the aid of the app. Highly recommended and great value for money
The area is very overcrowded
Anne M,Sep 2, 2024
- Review from Viator
3.00Very overcrowded area. No parking, heavy traffic, long queues The Landscapes Tour out of Keswick is much better.
Not a great investment
peter b,Aug 9, 2024
- Review from Viator
3.00Hard to purchase and download, and gives little flexibility in the tour, but does allow starting and stopping
Lake Windermere
Trish C,Jul 24, 2024
- Review from Viator
5.00Excellent trip around Lake Windermere, led us to places we may not have found by ourselves. Once we got the hang of following the directions it was easy and the guide was incredibly knowledgeable about the area, lots of interesting facts about places and the people who lived here.
Frustrating and time wasting
Wendy G,Jul 22, 2024
- Review from Viator
3.00Very frustrating and time wasting. I was trying to run it on my phone but it would not react. I could not pause or resume or fast forward/back. Eventually I got it loaded on my husband phone which was reacting better but we wasted so much time. I wrote to ask for help but got no response.
A bit frustrating
Q4328JHrickl,Jul 21, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
2.00Narrative was OK, but not too exiting. Driving directions could have been much better. Got lost in a couple of areas and spent quite some time getting back on track.
Good tour but not great for us.
Dean H,May 18, 2024
- Review from Viator
2.00Unfortunately, the weather was very poor on the day we did this. Saying that, the first hour of the tour was very good and informative, although the suggested stopping points were mostly in pay and display car parks which could work out expensive if you were staying for a while at each stop. After the first hour, the rain and cloud cover was so heavy that we lost the GPS signal so had to end the tour and head back to Windermere. I would recommend this tour though (in good weather) as it was very informative and interesting for the areas we did visit. My score of 2 stars is purely on our experience of having to cut short the tour well before half way.
Keswick self guided tour by car.
561MichaelD561,Apr 24, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00The commentary was very clear and easy to understand. We never got lost on the route which for us is a real plus!! The route took us to many beautiful places and there were many opportunities to get out and walk. We actually did the tour over 2 days and were easily able to pick up where we left off the previous day.
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