They say that autumn will come earlier this year because it’s been a dry, warm summer, and the trees are ready to shed their leaves sooner. Certainly we’ve noticed the earlier crops of acorns and conkers in our lovely woods and forests.

So book yourselves an autumn visit and get outside for some spectacular views. Remember that if you stay at one of our member hotels, you can pick up the discount card for a lot of seasonal attractions.

If you want to see the countryside in comfort without having to drive, why not take a tour of the Lakes on a Mountain Goat. It’s a bus, don’t worry, not a four-legged creature, our very own tour specialist that’s been taking visitors around the Lake District for 50 years.
The company has a range of exciting and inspiring itineraries, avoiding the busier areas, taking you over high passes and along quieter lake shores. There will be a driver with lots of local knowledge, and plenty of stops to take photographs.
With a variety of half and full day sightseeing tours available visitors can chose an itinerary to suit them. https://www.mountain-goat.com/Lake-District

If you head out to the south west corner of the Lake District you can see one of the area’s loveliest gardens in autumn splendour. Muncaster Castle is a historic building that still a family home, and famous for its owl centre. But the gardens will be reaching their very best in the next few weeks.

The estate has been in the hands of the Pennington family for over 800 years and many fashions in horticulture have come and gone over this period, though the gardens have always been among the best. The earliest surviving feature dates from the 1780s, a magnificent terrace built by the first Lord Muncaster.

As well as extending and remodelling the Castle, he carried out huge improvements in the gardens including planting hundreds of thousands of trees, providing the shelter required for the exotic collections of later generations, and building the grand entrance gates.

The following centuries saw an explosion in the range and variety of plants in the garden, fuelled by the Victorian passion for plant hunting. Muncaster was at the forefront of the new craze and many of our rarest plants date from this era. Today you’ll see spectacular colours in any season, but especially in autumn.
https://www.muncaster.co.uk/

At the eastern side of the Lake District, the Ullswater Steamers will carry walkers across the water for a really spectacular adventure in autumn. It’s not just the colours on the trees and the bracken that will enchant you here, but the spectacle of the famous Autumn Red Deer Rut around Martindale and Boredale.
There are special trips of one, two or three days to walk the fells with your binoculars, and listen out for the bellowing of the rutting deer echoing around the valleys.
These days out are weather dependent, and the organisers promise that each day can be as gentle or as strenuous as YOU wish. But you do need to be comfortable with walking in the hills, on trails, for around six miles with approximately 600m ascent each day.
Details: https://www.visitlakedistrict.com/whats-on/red-deer-rut-autumn-hikes-p2251421

Let’s now head to the woods where, if you go down today or any day in autumn, you’re sure of a big surprise. Grizedale Forest is the crowning glory of Lake District woodland, but there’s also a fabulous new attraction here for when the colours of the day have faded and night takes on a kind of magic.

The Grizedale Observatory and Planetarium opened this year and offers a chance to explore the universe from the heart of the forest. The observatory enjoys dark skies unblemished by light pollution, so if you’ve only ever seen the sky from a town or city you’ll be stunned by how the sky opens up as the sun sets. The centre is staffed by astronomers who will let you use the telescopes to look at stars and galaxies.

And every autumn in the Lakes, the Cumbria Dark Sky Festival takes place with a host of events to celebrate the wonders of the night sky. The 2025 festival will take place between October 24 and November 21 this year.

These late autumn months are a great time to take advantage of the longer nights, wrap up warm and spend time in the outdoors, getting closer to nature and really appreciating the dark sky above you. Details: https://www.visitlakedistrict.com/whats-on/festivals/cumbria-dark-sky-festival

If you are looking for accommodation, check out our member hotels here https://www.reallakedistrict.co.uk/hotels.aspx, and remember to pick up that discount card.