Nearly 300 years ago Daniel Defoe (of Robinson Crusoe fame) published "a tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain". In it he commented that the area we now call the Lake District in Cumbria was "the wildest, most barren and frightful of any that I have passed over in England - or even Wales itself". Since then it has attracted travellers of all sorts, from all parts - poets, painters, philosophers and ordinary people, fascinated by this wild grandeur, some to live there permanently, and some, like ourselves, just to visit.

Cumbria is easily accessible from Northern Ireland with no need for an early morning departure. Our itinerary is designed to let you enjoy to the full that 'wild grandeur' with a boat trip on Ullswater and a drive over the spectacular Kirkstone Pass. We also experience the 'tame' beauty where men and women have left their marks, when we visit the 'Arts and Crafts' house at Blackwell overlooking Lake Windermere and Leven's Hall, a fine Elizabethan manor house near Kendal, famous for its very cultivated topiary gardens.

Finally on the last day of the tour we take a particularly scenic route along the famed A686 towards the Cumbrian/Durham border for a spectacular view out over the Solway Firth, which divides the Lake District from Scotland.

Keswick, our base for this tour is a typical Lake District town, set on a lakeshore in the shadow of a mountain (in this case Skiddaw), from which our town centre hotel takes its name. The Skiddaw Hotel is located in the town square and combines the traditional décor and friendly welcome of a family run hotel with modern facilities and efficient service. There is a restaurant, lounge bar and all 43 en-suite bedrooms have satellite TV, direct dial telephone, hairdryer and tea/coffee making facilities.