The Lake District in north-western England is a place of great natural beauty and abundant in history. While Bassenthwaite Lake is the only body of water in the district actually classified as a lake, there are several others known as tarns and waters including Windermere which is the largest in the area. Majestic mountain peaks and dense forests surround the lake, tarns, and waters creating an amazing setting for outdoor activities of all types. Historically, the Lake District was the well-known haunt of literary greats and poets like John Ruskin and William Wordsworth, and many cultural events and venues pay tribute to their work. With its many attractions and stunning scenery, it is no wonder the area is fast becoming the main destination for weekend holidays.

Enjoying Outdoor Pleasures in The Lake District

 
The pristine, lovely lakes beckon visitors to hire a boat and explore the waterways. The Coniston Boating Centre in the Lake District National Park provides visitors with a variety of water recreation activities as well as biking trails for land adventures. Water craft of all types including motor boats, sail boats  and canoes peacefully troll the waters at Coniston. The boating centre offers safety instruction with all equipment hires to ensure guests have a safe and memorable time on the Coniston waters. Water recreation activities continue at Windermere which extends for 10 miles and contains several small islets. Fishermen especially enjoy the fact that Windermere has a great abundance of trout, pike, and perch.

The forests surrounding the lakes have not been forgotten by Lake District tourist attraction operators. An outfit called Tree Top Trek at Windermere presents visitors with aerial physical challenges sure to send one’s heart racing. Visitors race through the trees on ziplines and test their balance and nerves on Tree Top Trek’s specially crafted rope obstacle courses. Tree Top Trek outdoor adventures is great fun for family groups, company parties, and couples.

One of the best ways to tour the quaint villages and engaging countryside around the lakes is by bike. Motorists share the road with bikes, and visitors stop whenever they desire to visit an eye-catching attraction. The clean air and exercise gained from biking the countryside surrounding the Lake District is the perfect weekend tonic for lethargic, weekday office workers. Motor cycles are also available for hire at the Lakes Escape which provides all-inclusive motor cycle tour packages to popular area attractions.

Other Distinctive Cultural Attractions Of The Lake District

 
The Lake District is home to a very unique museum featuring some of the world’s most exquisite collection of miniatures. The miniature museum is a must see for doll house collectors, artists, and anyone else fascinated by the details of these pint-sized works of art. Their collection includes 1/12 scale versions of antique living room, dining room, and other furniture pieces. Miniature paintings, embroidery, and musical instruments are also on display at the Miniature Museum. The level of detail is astounding, and the museum is sure to impress all who walk through its doors.

John Ruskin was a famed author, social activist, and later philanthropist of the Lake District. His late secretary started a museum in the area in his honour in the early 1900s, and one has been in operation in the Lake District ever since. This museum features some of Ruskin’s early handwritten transcripts and surprisingly skilful childhood paintings. Although John Ruskin’s later years were reportedly marred by mental illness, his ideals of social justice remained a guiding point for his peers and contemporaries. The talented man raised amongst the British élite advocated for universal education and better housing for all.

One collectible of John Ruskin somehow did not make it to the Ruskin Museum; his row-boat named “Jumping Jenny” is on display at its namesake the Jumping Jenny Tea Rooms. Jumping Jenny is a great place to relax while taking in afternoon tea or grabbing a quick cup of coffee. Their nutritious, palate tempting meals made from fresh, local produce is particularly noteworthy as well.

Why not treat yourself to a Lakes Escape this Spring or Summer and enjoy everything the Lake District has to offer….

On March 3 2013, the Beech Hill Hotel overlooking Lake Windermere with beautiful views and outstanding service will be showcasing some of the best local suppliers to help you plan the perfect wedding day.

A warm welcome awaits you at the Beech Hill Hotel’s Wedding Fayre:

• Enjoy a glass of champagne on arrival
• Try our delicious canapés, prepared by our talented, award winning kitchen brigade
• Accessory and gown showrooms
• Exhibitor stands offering everything a Bride could ever need; florists, photographers, cakes, cars and much, much more
• Free entry
• Free parking
• Free prize draw
• Exclusive discounts
• Live music
• Beauty demonstrations
• The opportunity to be shown around our 5 star “Honeymoon” house

Want to get a flavour of what goes on at our wedding fayre then why not take a look at our 2 minute HD video!

For those of you who can stay over night and would like a personal tour of the Hotel the following day, why not make a night of it!  Book our Special Wedding Fayre Offer starting from £119 per room, including dinner, bed and breakfast.  This offer is based on 2 adults sharing on the Sunday evening, the inclusive dinner will give you the opportunity to sample some of the dishes from our Wedding Breakfast Menu.

Come and join us for a day to remember.  For more information please contact us on 0844 5027587

Fraser Richardson

Managing Director

Beech Hill Hotel Limited

The Beech Hill Hotel overlooking Lake Windermere with its beautiful views, is one of the Lake Districts most distinctive hotels.  Have planned a number of special events throughout 2013 to entertain and delight our guests.

With the exception of January, The Beech Hill has a busy calendar of special events for your pleasure, from Valentines and Guy Fawkes Night to Wedding Fayres and Gourmet Nights.

Try our Champagne and Strawberries Evening where we celebrate the start of the great British summer with an extravaganza of Champagne and strawberries, including a specially selected Champagne for each course of your meal.

Or how about our Summer Ball? Enjoy a Champagne Cocktail on the terrace, a delicious four course dinner full of fantastic Cumbrian summer fayre, followed by dancing until midnight to the loud salsa party tunes of The La Tinto Bros from South America.

On Fridays and Saturdays throughout December we have a series of Las Vegas and Hollywood party nights or you can try your luck at our special Charity Party Night, raising funds for the British Heart Foundation.

At the heart of each event is our stunning food. Mouth-watering masterpieces of English and French cuisine produced under the stewardship of Head Chef Chris Davies to AA Rosette standard, all using the finest produce our beautiful county has to offer.

Our range of attractive event and accommodation packages are available throughout the year and will give you a weekend to remember in the heart of the beautiful Lake District.

For further details click on the Special Events tab , call 0844 502 7587  or  take a look at our  Special Events Video

Fraser Richardson

Managing Director

Beech Hill Hotel Limited

We decided that pictures alone don’t do justice to our 4 Star Hotel on the eastern shores of  Windermere. So to go that extra mile to give you the next best thing to being here we commissioned LakesCreative.tv to produce a two minute HD video of our hotel. So if you have a couple of minutes why not take a look. Click on the following link to view:

HD Video of Beech Hill Hotel

The Beech Hill Hotel, where stunning views, superb food and careful consideration for your every comfort combine to define what is the lake district’s most distinctive 4 Star hotel.

Here, on the shores of one of the Lake District’s most beautiful locations, you’re free to indulge yourself in the welcoming warmth of our homely and comfortable hotel. Relax, take time out, give yourself over to our friendly and helpful team…be looked after in the way you’d choose to be looked after.

I hope you enjoy watching and I would welcome any comments/feedback about our video you would care to make. Thank you for reading and watching!

Fraser Richardson

Managing Director

Beech Hill Hotel Limited

We decided that pictures alone don’t do justice to our 5 Star Gold Award winning Hoilday Cottage in Bowness on Windermere. So to go that extra mile to give you the next best thing to being here we commissioned LakesCreative.tv to produce a two minute HD video of our Cottage. So if you have a couple of minutes why not take a look. Click on the following link to view:

HD Video of High Biggin

High Biggin is a luxury four bedroom, five bathroom holiday cottage with unrivalled views of Lake Windermere. The stunning views and spacious, beautifully appointed and furnished rooms epitomise this wonderful detached holiday home set in landscaped grounds overlooking Lake Windermere.  No expense has been spared to create a unique atmosphere for families and couples to relax in comfort and elegance close to the fashionable lakeside village of Bowness within 5 minutes walk, with its stylish boutiques, tea rooms, pubs and restaurants.

I hope you enjoy watching and I would welcome any comments/feedback about our video you would care to make. Thank you for reading and watching!

Fraser Richardson

Managing Director

Beech Hill Hotel Limited

Some of you might think I’m talking about the new “take that” album, you would however, be mistaken! I actually want to bring your attention to our newly refurbished bedrooms at the Beech Hill Hotel on Lake Windermere!

We’ve completed a number of rooms being done under the current refurbishment programme, all of which look amazing! These rooms all have fantastic lake views, now though, they have all that and more, much more! Designer wallpapers and fabrics, state of the art bathrooms, plasma screen televisions, all you need to bring is, well yourself!

We’ve managed to source a local building firm, “Vickerstown interiors” headed by owner, Russell Spencely. These guy’s are not only great tradesmen, but also have a real eye for detail. Nothing but perfection will do, not the usual builders then! The firm specialise in interior design, and I really think it shows in the finished rooms. Check out the rooms by following the link on our website, see the “Select room” images. You can also see a selection of pictures on our facebook page.

I’ve had the pleasure of showing the finished rooms to guests staying with us and the feedback is fantastic, in fact people are already booking them for next summer!

This is the first phase of work planned over the coming winter months, we will have completed twelve rooms by March 2012. The second stage is planned to commence next October with a further twelve bedrooms being completed the following March.

Now that really is progress!

Jonathan Allan

General Manager

We love cocktails and even though we do say so ourselves, we make a stunning range of delicious cocktails. So we were thinking that as winter is fast approaching how could we lessen the impact of the cooler weather?….Then it hit us, lets have a cocktail hour to warm every bit of our guests for less!

Thus our 241 Cocktail Hour was born, so from 6 to 7pm Sunday to Thursday you can buy one cocktail and get one free at the Beech Hill Hotel on Lake Windermere until 29 February 2012.

So if a Long Island Iced Tea floats your Staten Island Ferry then there is only one place to be.  And why not get yourself one of our free Gourmet Diners Club Cards and you can get up to 50% off your food bill too! Go on you know you want too

Thanks for reading

Fraser Richardson

Managing Director

Like Tea, Free in the afternoon? Then have we got just the thing for you!

Here at the hotel we are always looking to improve our offering to our guests and to that end we have added a stunning Afternoon Tea to our bar menu.

Just imagine sitting out on our terrace while taking in the stunning views of Lake Windermere and the Old Man of Coniston enjoying tea and cucumber sandwiches with generous helpings of lemon drizzle cake to finish. Heaven!

If you’re in the area we’d love to see you so why not pop in and enjoy afternoon tea at the Beech Hill Hotel.

The reservations team

I know it’s the Lake District, but believe it or not we can have beautiful summers! If you’ve read the last blog from our Chef, you’ll know we have launched a rather tasty “summer” terrace menu here at the Beech Hill Hotel. We are also thinking about an evening barbeque menu that we will run mainly on Friday and Saturday nights during the summer. I know we’ll need the weather on our side but honestly, we do have some great days (and nights!)

The terrace is the perfect place for this because it’s in full sun right through the afternoon and stays in the sun until it goes down, sometimes as late as 10 o’clock! Plenty of time then to kick back with a cocktail and something fresh off the Barbie!

Check us out on facebook where you’ll see that some of you have already told us about some of your favourite dishes of all time! Our chef has seen some really unusual ones and it’s great to see the different combinations people put together!

We’d love to hear what it is you enjoy most when its cooked on the BBQ, personally, I don’t think you can go to far wrong with line caught sea bass, cooked with fresh herbs, a wedge of lemon and just a little butter, put everything in a simple foil parcel and wait for perfection! I think I’ve just decided what’s for dinner this evening!

So follow us on facebook, leave us as many ideas as you like and give your idea of the “perfect” Barbeque! You never know, you could end up reading someone’s favourite dish and cooking it yourself, enjoy!

Jonathan Allan

General Manager

The Quirky Traveller (a.k.a. Zoe Dawes) and Britain’s Best Travel Blogger 2011 came to the Beech Hill Hotel to experience our Gourmet & Wine Tasting Night in March this year and she very kindly blogged about her experience of the Hotel and the Event:

“It was the quacking that woke me up … and pulling back the curtains I found a handful of ducks chuntering around on the grass outside the bedroom. Looking up, it was the view that really caught my attention. Lake Windermere spread out her long arms to embrace flirty yachts, wooded banks and distant fells…….”

To read more why not visit Zoe’s website to see the full article – www.thequirkytraveller.com

If your interested in our Gourmet & Wine Tasting Night we are hosting another one on Friday 30th September 2011 to see further details including the menu ‘click here’

Our thanks go out to Zoe for putting here experience on paper so to speak!

Fraser Richardson

Managing Director