The Youth Hostels Association got a bargain in the 1970s when it paid £71,000 for a terrace of four small Victorian hotels at the head of Windermere. On this coveted shore lined with millionaires’ villas and country house hotels, Ambleside YHA is a prime chunk of waterside property, offering a rich man’s view for the price of a dorm bed. Only a small car park lies between its front door and the lake’s gently lapping waves: you can sip your morning coffee on the jetty with your feet dangling over the water (at least, you could if it wasn’t January).
Behind its dour 19th-century facade a bright, refurbished reception area welcomes guests into a flagship of 21st-century hostelling. A poster at reception advertises free daily yoga sessions; there’s homemade sponge cake on a cake stand on the bar of the lake-view restaurant, alongside craft beers and Cumbrian real ales. In the dining area, where retro prints of Lake District fells hang on pale grey walls, the Scandi-style canteen tables are shared by young families, walking groups and international backpackers.
As one of the largest hostels in the portfolio (with 64 rooms and 249 beds), YHA Ambleside has communal areas to suit all kinds of groups and moods, so there’s no need to worry if your children run around in their pyjamas or have a rowdy dispute at the ping-pong table. Anyone who minds can retreat to the library/quiet room with their book.
Ambleside is at the northern end of Windermere, a few miles from touristy Bowness. Its centre, 10 minutes’ walk from the lake, is an up-and-coming culinary hotspot, home of the Noma-inspired Lake Road Kitchen and the Michelin-listed Old Stamp House. Of course, you probably don’t want to know this if you’re visiting with children and cooking for yourself in the hostel’s well-equipped kitchen. Our affordable compromise was dinner and a film at Zeffirelli’s, an arts cinema attached to a vegetarian restaurant and jazz bar, which offers early-bird film-and-pizza for £15.25 (£12.25 for under-12s).
Our family room (double, plus bunks) was large, functional and spotlessly clean. For £60 you can’t expect deep mattresses – or thick walls. Despite the best efforts of the family-friendly wardens working round the clock, the noisy group crashing in at 3am must have missed the signs requesting quiet between 11pm and 7am. But it felt churlish to complain: hostelling is meant to be a big communal adventure, a sort of all-weather camping, only as peaceful as fellow guests are considerate. Incidentally, the Low Wray National Trust campsite on the other side of the lake charges getting on for £50 for a waterfront pitch for four, which put the cost of our lakeside en suite room into perspective – even in high season when it’s nearly twice the price.
Come morning, we threw back the curtains to enjoy the promised view across Windermere to Langdale Pikes. Alas, a thick fog had got there first, sitting stubbornly on top of the water until after breakfast. Devouring our YHA fry-up (£5.75) by a tall bay window (we left the self-catering kitchen to the purposeful hikers packing up sarnies), we stared hopefully into the whiteness. Gradually, ghostly sailing boats began to appear – like the Death Star in Rogue One, our Star-Wars-loving sons observed. By the time we’d finished our toast and marmalade, we could make out Ambleside Pier, a few hundred metres away.
Were it later in the season, we could have caught a boat across the top of the lake to Wray Castle, to walk or cycle the four-mile western shore path (bike hire from the aforementioned Low Wray Campsite, nationaltrust.org.uk). Another family-friendly outing could be Brockhole Visitor Centre, reached by the 599 bus and home to a treetop high-wire course and canopy-strung trampolines.
Instead, with walking boots burning a hole in our luggage, we drove to Rydal to do a favourite easy hill walk: to the summit of Loughrigg Fell.
“No ascent is more repaying for the small labour involved,” Alfred Wainwright said of this “midget mountain”, with its views across the central Lake District. One assumes he wrote that on a clear day.
• Accommodation was provided by YHA Ambleside. Family rooms for four from £35-£109 a night, dorm beds from £10-£30 a night; kids eat free in the hostel restaurant with a main adult meal ordered. YHA members save £3 a night on the cost of a bed: under-26 membership is £5 a year paid by direct debit, individual membership is £15 a year
Ask a local
Mark Dobie, deputy manager at clothes shop Adventure Peaks
• Eat
Bilbo’s Cafe on Cheapside is friendly and sells all-day breakfasts and simple food, such as veggie dahls and burritos. Our two boys like the eggy bread and homemade cake if they’ve been good.
• Do
An easy family walk is to Stock Ghyll Force, a waterfall 10 minutes out of town (take the path behind the Salutation Hotel). For days out, we go to Grizedale Forest for its play areas and cycle trails.
• Drink
Many of the pubs in Ambleside are small and cosy, but with the boys we prefer the White Lion on Market Place: it’s laid-back and spacious, with good food and cask beers.
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