Off the beaten track Lake District

Great and Little Urswick. The two villages adjoin one another below Birkrigg Common, a limestone upland with pleasant walks and views over Morecambe Bay. At Great Urswick, Urswick Tarn makes a delightful setting for the church of St Mary and St Michael, which is one of the Cumbrian churches which has a rush bearing ceremony. This takes place on the last Sunday in September Windermere spa hotel .

Greystoke This is a pleasant open village with houses and cottages looking on to the village green with its ancient cross. The castle is an ancestral seat of the Howards and is open only for special occasions. The Howards were Whigs and great rivals of the Lowthers. Charles, eleventh Duke of Norfolk, matched some of his opponent's eccentricities. Travelling around here, you may spot one of his three mock fortress farmhouses named Fort Putnam, Bunkers Hill and Jefferson! The church is worth visiting.

Hawkshead is an attractive and much visited village with cobbled squares and old timber framed cottages. It was formerly an important centre of the wool trade. The Old Courthouse on the northern edge of the village was the administrative centre for the monks of Furness Abbey, who controlled the Hawkshead area for many years. The flagstone fences characteristic of this area also date from this period. As a boy, Wordsworth lodged with Ann Tyson, first in the village and later at nearby Colt house, whilst he attended the Old Gram mar School, where his initials are carved on a desk. This is Beatrix Potter country, as will be seen from the National Trust's gallery in the village. The church of St Michael and All Angels has a lovely setting overlooking the surrounding countryside.

The Sandys family is much in evidence. They own the nearby Graythwaite estate and were responsible for founding the grammar school and restoring the church.Ireby is a small village lying in folds of the fells to the west of Caldbeck. Like its neighbours, High Ireby and Uldale, it has a quiet timeless feel. Ireby's present church is Victorian, but what remains of the old church, the chancel, stands in a field a mile (1.6 km) along the by road to Torpenhow. In 1971 it was carefully restored. In the east wall it has a beautiful arcade with twelfth century Norman capitals; over the outside door is a tympanum of the same period. There is an annual service here in late August.

This ancient market town lying on the banks of the river Kent, although now bypassed by the main roads to Scotland and the Lake District, remains a busy place. Its motto is 'Wool is my bread', for from the fourteenth century it was a thriving centre for the wool trade, which produced the famous Kendal Green cloth. Much of the old town remains, with yards or lanes running off the main street and market place, and there is a wealth of Georgian buildings.

Starting at the southern end, Kirkland is one the oldest and most attractive parts of the town. Here, at the Abbot Hall Art Gallery, there are leaflets and maps which will provide a necessary guide through the busy streets and lanes. Here, too, is the parish church. The main street, Highgate, runs north towards the town centre, becoming Strickland gate once beyond its highest point at Finkle Street. All along there are modestly attractive buildings. The old brewery, for example, is now an arts centre and youth hostel; a little further on are Sandes Hospital almshouses, founded in 1670. Next door is the Shakespeare, a fine old coaching inn.

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Adrian vultur writes for Windermere spa hotel

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