Lake District National Park area
The Lake District National Park is England's largest and covers:
- 2362 square kilometres
- 912 square miles
- 583,747 acres or
- 236,234 hectares
Width (west to east): 58 km or 36 miles
Width (north to south): 64 km or 40 miles
Find out about the land ownership in the Lake District.
Ten highest mountains
- Scafell Pike at 978 metres (3210 feet)
- Scafell at 964 metres (3162 feet)
- Helvellyn at 950 metres (3114 feet)
- Skiddaw at 931 metres(3053 feet)
- Great End at 910 metres (2986 feet)
- Bowfell at 902 metres (2959 feet)
- Great Gable at 899 metres (2949 feet)
- Pillar at 892 metres (2926 feet)
- Nethermost Pike at 891 metres (2923 feet)
- Catstycam (2917 feet)
There are at least 200 fell tops. The writer Alfred Wainwright wrote about 214. Check out the List of Wainwrights (opens in new window)
Sixteen largest lakes
- Windermere - 14.8 square kilometres
- Ullswater - 8.9 square kilometres
- Derwentwater - 5.5 square kilometres
- Bassenthwaite Lake - 5.3 square kilometres
- Coniston Water - 4.0 square kilometres
- Haweswater - 3.9 square kilometres
- Thirlmere - 3.3 square kilometres
- Ennerdale Water - 3 square kilometres
- Wastwater - 2.9 square kilometres
- Crummock Water - 2.5 square kilometres
- Esthwaite Water - 1 square kilometre
- Buttermere - 0.9 square kilometres
- Grasmere - 0.6 square kilometres
- Loweswater - 0.6 square kilometres
- Rydal Water - 0.3 square kilometres
- Brotherswater - 0.2 square kilometres
Tarns
Tarn comes from the Old Norse word for 'pool'. It usually refers to a small mountain lake or pool. However as some tarns are larger than lakes, it's not an exact science! Here are some of the larger ones:
- Blea Tarn
- Little Langdale Tarn
- Overwater Tarn
- Stickle Tarn
- Tarn Hows
- Watendlath Tarn
- Yew Tree Tarn
Facts about lakes and coastline
- The deepest lake in England is Wastwater at 74 metres (243 feet)
- England's longest lake is Windermere which is 10.5 miles long
- There is only one official lake - Bassenthwaite Lake. All the others are 'meres' or 'waters'
- The National Park includes 26 miles of coastline and estuaries
- In the heavy rains of November 2009, Windermere lake rose 157cm. Over the week, that translates into an extra 35,700,000,000 litres. 22,100,000,000 litres of those were added in just 36 hours!
Facts about trees and woodlands
- Woodland covers 12 percent of the Lake District National Park, around 28,500 hectares
- 9,500 hectares is owned or managed by the Forestry Commission
- 12,000 hectares is broadleaf woodland
- 620 hectares of woodland is owned and managed by us
Key dates
- 1810 William Wordsworth publishes "Guide to the Lakes"
- 1847 Kendal and Windermere railway reaches Windermere
- 1951 Lake District National Park established - read more in History of the National Park
- 2016 Lake District National Park extended
Local population and housing
* 40,478 people live within the boundaries of the National Park. (Source: Mid-Year 2018 Office for National Statistics Population Estimates)
* Population density per square kilometre: 18 (Source: 2011 census)
* Total dwellings: 24,511 (Source: LDNPA Annual Monitoring Report)
* Owner occupied: 68 per cent (Source: Mid-Year 2018 Office for National Statistics Population Estimates)
* Rented: 41.9 per cent (Source: Mid-Year 2018 Office for National Statistics Population Estimates)
* Holiday or second homes: 24 per cent (Source: 2011 census)
Tourism
Tourism is the main source of income for Lake District economy. Tourism brings great benefits to the area. Visitors spend money on accommodation, food, drink and leisure activities and indirectly support other business such as wholesalers and the building trade.
- There were 18.14 million tourists to the Lake District in 2022
- There were 29.15 million tourist days (spending more than three hours) in the Lake District in 2022
- Tourism revenue for the Lake District in 2022 was £2164 million (£2.164 billion)
Source for all figures: Cumbria Tourism has provided these figures.
Find out more in Tourism.
Weather
Temperature in Ambleside:
Maximum temperature
- July - 19.9 degrees centigrade
- January - 6.8 degrees centigrade
Minimum temperature
Annual rainfall:
- in Ambleside: 2061mm
- in Seathwaite, the wettest inhabited place in England: 3552mm
Natural Heritage
- 55,690 ha Sites of Special Scientific Interest
Cultural Heritage
Need more?
The State of the Park Report includes statistics on farming, employment and tourism.
Or for local traditions and famous people check out Uniquely Lake District.
Learn more about the UK's 15 National Parks
For facts and figures about other National Parks, check out National Parks - Learning about
