Laying entirely with in the Lake District, Windermere is the largest natural lake in England.

Winderemere has been a popular place for holidays and summer homes since the arrival of the Kendal and Windermere Railway branch line arrived in 1847.

“Windermere” translates from “Vinandr’s lake”, the Old Norse name Vinandr and Old English word, mere, meaning lake. It was known previously as “Winander Mere” or “Winandermere” until the nineteenth century.

Windermere is 10.5 miles long stretching from Newby Bridge To Ambleside and varies from a quarter of a mile to one mile wide at Millerground.

The lake covers an area of 5.7 sq miles and reaches a depth of about 220 feet near its northern end. It has an elevation above sea level of 130 feet. The lake is drained from its southernmost point by the River Leven and it is replenished by the rivers Brathay, Rothay, Trout Beck, Cunsey Beck and several other lesser streams.

Two towns border the lake, Ambleside and Bowness-on-Windermere. The town of Windermere, confusingly, does not directly front the lake.

Called Birthwaite before to the arrival of the railway, it is about a fifteen-minute walk from the lakefront, and has grown and developed through the years with Bowness. Windermere railway station is a hub for transport connections to the surrounding areas, including Manchester, Manchester Airport, and the West Coast Main Railway Line.

The lake is largely surrounded by foothills of the Lake District which provide easy walks but to the north and north-east, the higher mountains (fells) of the central Lake District commence.

Windermere is one of a very few lakes in Britain which has a perceptible diurnal tide.

Lake Windermere is a ribbon lake, meaning long, narrow and finger-like.

Ribbon lakes were formed thousands of years ago during the ice age through glaciation: as the glacier bulldozed through a valley (glacial trough), it met bands of harder and softer rock.

Islands
The lake in total contains 18 small islands, the largest of which is the privately owned Belle Isle, which is approx 40 acres. It lies opposite Bowness and is around a kilometre in length.

The other islands are considerably smaller although one, Lady Holme, is named after the church that formerly stood there.

The remaining islands are Bee Holme, Blake Holme, Hawes Holme, Hen Holme, Crow Holme, Fir Holme, Grass Holme, Ling Holme, Maiden Holme, Ramp Holme, Rough Holme, Snake Holme, Thompson Holme, Silver Holme and Lilies of the Valley (East, and West),

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