Whinlatter Forest Walking Trails: Seat How Summit Adventure

There’s nothing we love more as a family than a forest trail with the dogs and Forestry England have some superb choices.

We particularly love to visit Grizedale Forest near Hawkshead and also part of Forestry England but we felt like we needed a change. A few people had mentioned Whinlatter Forest to us and it’s close to one of our favourite places in the Lakes, which is Keswick. So it was decided that we would head there on our first day.

After setting off nice and early (as always) we arrived at Whinlatter at around 9am. The car park was beginning to fill up so it’s a good idea to arrive early if you prefer to beat the crowds. Looking back, I guess most people had the same idea. The main car park and toilets are open from 8:30am.

You pay for parking when you leave and there are multiple options. They accept: coins, credit cards or you can pay upto 48hrs after you leave, online at Park with ease. The charges are: upto 1 hour: £2.20 and then £0.50 for each additional 20 minutes thereafter or £8 for the full day. Get free parking by joining their membership.

Whinlatter Forest offers lots of activities for all the family. One of the main attractions being Go Ape which we experienced at Grizedale and would recommend to anyone looking for some outdoor, thrill-seeking adventures but you’ll have to have someone with you to look after the dogs. On this day we were wanting to experience what the forest had to offer in the way of walking trails; we were not disappointed.

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Once we’d donned our walking gear we headed straight for the visitor centre where you’ll find the toilets and all the info you need before setting off on your walk.

There is a choice of 9 trails to walk, depending on what you are looking for. Some are waymarked where you follow the coloured arrows, (these are the ones I like to follow as we often get lost. It’s no secret) others are not waymarked and you may need to seek advice from the visitor centre as to which is the best route.

We wanted a trail that gave us fabulous views and a decent walk so we went for the Seat How Summit Trail which you need to allow 3 hours for and is described as strenuous as the trail ascends uphill in quite a few parts. Following the green waymarkers the trail is 3.5miles (5.75km) in length and begins at the visitor centre.

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The Seat How Trail is a circular walk which can be completed in either direction. From the Visitor Centre we set off in a clockwise direction. The start of the trail takes you through a lovely play park before leading you into deeper forest. You’re guaranteed to bump into some of the characters from the Gruffalo too which we enjoyed.

Climbing to 500m you walk through forest and heather moorland. There is something so peaceful about walking this trail and although the carpark was busy you seem to be on your own for most of the walk; it’s so vast. The paths are easy to walk on however as you climb further up, the trail becomes narrower and winding until you reach the top. You won’t be disappointed when you reach the summit either. Even with some cloud we were still greeted with lovely views over Keswick and Derwentwater.

What I love about these forest trails is that the spaniels can be off lead the whole time. Although there’s no livestock on the trails, you will need to be on the lookout for cyclists. And we always make Willow and Bobby stay at the side to allow them to pass. We spent some time at the summit admiring the view and taking some photos before leisurely continuing on our route. As you continue back down, the trail opens up quite a bit giving you more spectacular views.

We thoroughly enjoyed Whinlatter Forest and there’s no doubt we will return. I definitely recommend the Seat How trail and who knows maybe next time we’ll venture out of our comfort zone and complete a trail that isn’t waymarked.

When visiting Forestry England sites please make sure you follow the Forestry England dog code