Keswick

Keswick needs 1 day: a hike to Catbells or Skiddaw with views over Derwentwater, considered the Lake District's most beautiful lake, is the main reason to visit. May-September brings the best weather. It's mid-priced by British standards. It's a traditional market town with less mass tourism than Windermere, and in its nearby mines the first known deposit of pure graphite was discovered in the 16th century, the origin of the modern pencil -today the town's Cumberland Pencil Museum tells that story.