--- title: "Things to do with kids in Keswick | Visit Keswick, Lake District" url: https://visitkeswick.com/do/family-friendly description: "Free things to do with children around Keswick, the Keswick Mouse Trail, family walks, parks and days out." --- Loading map… - [Feed the ducks on Derwentwater](https://visitkeswick.com/explore/lakes/derwentwater) - [Visit Castlerigg Stone Circle](https://visitkeswick.com/explore/not-to-miss/castlerigg-stone-circle) - [Walk to Friars Crag](https://visitkeswick.com/explore/not-to-miss/friars-crag) - [Enjoy a picnic in Hope Park](https://visitkeswick.com/do/parks) - [Walk up Castlehead](https://visitkeswick.com/explore/not-to-miss/castlehead) - [Walk round Derwentwater and find the hands](https://visitkeswick.com/do/walking-routes/derwentwater-walk) - [Visit Millican Dalton’s Cave](https://visitkeswick.com/do/walking-routes/rosthwaite-and-millican-daltons-cave) - [Go over the stepping stones in Rosthwaite](https://visitkeswick.com/explore/neighbouring-villages/rosthwaite) - [Visit the locations of Beatrix Potter’s books](https://visitkeswick.com/explore/history-culture/a-literary-wonderland) - [Discover a forest path](https://visitkeswick.com/explore/woodland) - [Climb a fell and enjoy the view](https://visitkeswick.com/do/walking-routes/latrigg) - [Play football or ride the BMX track in Fitz Park](https://visitkeswick.com/do/parks) - [Visit the Bowder Stone](https://visitkeswick.com/explore/not-to-miss/the-bowder-stone) Derwentwater and Keswick spread out below the grassy summit slopes of Latrigg ### Climb a fell and enjoy the view A great fell for children to climb, easily achievable in 2-3 hours depending on your pace. The views from the summit over Keswick town, Derwentwater and the surrounding fells are breath-taking and will give a real sense of achievement. Latrigg is an excellent half day walk to combine with the promise of a visit to Fitz Park at the end of the walk. For smaller children take the route through the park for a sneak preview before you start on the climb up Latrigg so it can provide a great incentive as an end of walk treat. Tired legs suddenly seem to become re-energised at the sight of swings and slides. person and bike in the air doing a trick around a BMX tracking with lake and mountains in the distance ### Play football or ride the BMX track in Fitz Park Just a few minutes stroll from Keswick Market Square, Fitz Park has a riverside setting with glorious open views towards Skiddaw and Latrigg and is an ideal spot for picnics. The Lower Park has a large open recreational area, cricket pavilion and fantastic children's playground as well as a multi use games area, gym equipment and BMX track. The upper park is a smaller formal area with bowling green, grass tennis courts and and putting green and an arboretum. For enquiries about opening hours of the games at Fitz Park tel 017687 73445. people ducks and geese on the shores of derwentwater ### Feed the ducks on Derwentwater Derwentwater, one of Keswick’s defining treasures — its islands, launches, shoreline walks and how to reach the water. The Castlerigg stone circle on open grass with the fells rising all around ### Visit Castlerigg Stone Circle One of Britain’s earliest stone circles, on a natural plateau east of Keswick with the fells standing all around it. Derwentwater seen from Friars Crag between old Scots pines with a bench on the path ### Walk to Friars Crag The short walk from town to the most-painted view in Keswick, and the memorial to the writer who never forgot seeing it at five years old. View of Hope Park ### Enjoy a picnic in Hope Park Located between the town centre and Derwentwater, Hope Park 's beautiful garden make it a favourite place to visit en route to and from the lake. There is plenty of seating where you can just relax and watch the world go by. It also offers traditional games and a cafe. View from castlehead summit with a bench and a trig point waymarker with views across derwentwater ### Walk up Castlehead The whole of Derwentwater and a bird’s-eye view over the town, from a hill you can climb and come back from inside an hour. carved large hands sculpture in a woodland clearing with derwentwater lake in the background ### Walk round Derwentwater and find the hands A scenic 10 mile waymarked walk around Derwentwater, Queen of the Lakes. On flat and easy paths, the walk passes through woodlands and along the lake shore. It can be broken down into smaller stretches by using the Keswick Launch. The wooded knoll of Castle Crag standing in the jaws of Borrowdale ### Visit Millican Dalton’s Cave An easy short walk from Rosthwaite with lots of interest for children. Climb up to Millican Dalton's Cave and imagine living in there, play pooh sticks on the bridges, picnic by the river and go for a paddle. Finish the walk by crossing the river via the stepping stones. Large stepping stones crossing a shallow river between wooded banks ### Go over the stepping stones in Rosthwaite A walking base in Borrowdale: stepping stones, Castle Crag, the Langstrath valley, and the cave where Millican Dalton spent fifty summers. A beck tumbling over boulders down a wooded valley with crags above ### Visit the locations of Beatrix Potter’s books The poets who made Keswick a literary town, and the places on Derwentwater and in Newlands that Beatrix Potter drew into her books. Straight conifer trunks in ranks with light and the valley showing between them ### Discover a forest path Great Wood, Cockshot Wood, Dodd Wood and Whinlatter Forest: waymarked walks from fifteen minutes upwards, wild play areas, red squirrels and ospreys. The Bowder Stone balanced on its edge with a wooden ladder leaning against it ### Visit the Bowder Stone One of the most famous rocks in the Lake District, a ten-minute stroll off the B5289 in Borrowdale — and you can climb it. ## And three that are anywhere Go for a paddle in one of our [lakes](https://visitkeswick.com/explore/lakes) , walk round one of them, and wrap up warm and go star-gazing. KTA left those three open on purpose and so have we — there is no one right place for any of them. The Moot Hall clock tower above a busy Keswick market street ## The Keswick Mouse Trail The Keswick Mouse Trail is free. Collect a map from outside the Keswick Cheese Deli in Packhorse Court and see if you can find Gerald and all his little mouse friends, playing hide and seek around the town. The map gives a clue as to where they are, but you have got to spot them. Find all 21 and then pop into the deli to have your map stamped. They have badges you can buy to show you completed the trail, and all the profits go to Keswick Mountain Rescue Team. It does not have to be done in a day. Take your time and call into some of the places the mice are hiding in. [Shopping in Keswick](https://visitkeswick.com/do/shopping) ## Did you know? The name Keswick is first recorded in the 13th century as “Kesewic”. It is suggested that it combines the Old English word “cēse”, meaning cheese, with the Scandinavian initial k. Cheese is still made in Keswick to this day. ## Ideas for family days out Children riding bikes along a raised timber boardwalk through the trees do ### [Keswick kids recommend](https://visitkeswick.com/do/family-friendly/keswick-kids-recommend) Seventeen places picked by children at the five primary schools around Keswick, described in their own words. Written by locals [Read more](https://visitkeswick.com/do/family-friendly/keswick-kids-recommend) A family walking in single file through waist-high golden grass ### [Family walks](https://visitkeswick.com/do/walking-routes/family-walks) Which routes take a pushchair, which make a good first fell, and which finish at a playground. Nineteen routes [Read more](https://visitkeswick.com/do/walking-routes/family-walks) A timber play park with towers and a blue slide on a bark chipping surface ### [Parks in Keswick](https://visitkeswick.com/do/parks) Fitz Park’s playground and BMX track, Hope Park’s games and cafe, and Crow Park by the lake. Free [Read more](https://visitkeswick.com/do/parks) A family of four standing with mountain bikes outside the timber bike hire building ### [Family cycling](https://visitkeswick.com/do/cycling-routes) The traffic-free railway path to Threlkeld, and the graded trails and bike hire at Whinlatter. Traffic free [Read more](https://visitkeswick.com/do/cycling-routes) A family paddling two kayaks together on open water with the fells beyond ### [On the water](https://visitkeswick.com/do/outdoors/water-sports) Canoes, kayaks and paddle boards on Derwentwater, and ghyll scrambling for older children. Get wet [Read more](https://visitkeswick.com/do/outdoors/water-sports) Rope bridges and platforms strung between tall conifers on a high ropes course ### [Multi activity](https://visitkeswick.com/do/outdoors/multi-activity) High ropes, zip wires, segways, archery and adventure play — a day made of several things. All weather [Read more](https://visitkeswick.com/do/outdoors/multi-activity) A boardwalk through summer meadow leading to a small turf-roofed bird hide general ### [Wildlife](https://visitkeswick.com/explore/wildlife) Ospreys at Whinlatter and Dodd Wood, red squirrels in the forests, and the birds of the lake shore. Look closely [Read more](https://visitkeswick.com/explore/wildlife) A wooden launch alongside the Derwentwater landing stages with Catbells beyond ### [Attractions](https://visitkeswick.com/do) The Puzzling Place, the Pencil Museum, Keswick Museum, the Alhambra Cinema and the Keswick Launch. Rainy days [Things to do](https://visitkeswick.com/do) ## Voted the most family friendly rural destination in the UK Keswick was named HomeAway’s most family friendly UK destination in the rural category in 2020, taking nearly half of all the votes in the category. The comments included “plenty of family activities”, “nature at its finest” and “the ideal place to remind oneself what life is about”. ## Somewhere to stay with the children Cottages, guest houses, hotels, holiday parks and camping — many of them geared up for families. ## For AI agents - API catalogue: https://visitkeswick.com/.well-known/api-catalog - Guide for AI agents: https://visitkeswick.com/llms.txt - A2A agent card: https://visitkeswick.com/.well-known/agent-card.json - MCP server card: https://visitkeswick.com/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json - Live availability and booking: the site's tools above (MCP connector at https://visitkeswick.com/mcp).