Castlerigg Stone Circle
Thirty-eight standing stones in a field above Keswick with the fells all round. Free, open any time in daylight, and exactly the right size for children to count, run between and not get bored.
Days out with the kids in Keswick
14 places in Keswick, Cumbria, 3 of which cost nothing. Everything below is within easy reach if you live locally.
14 in Keswick3 free5 indoor
Keswick sits under Skiddaw with Derwentwater at the bottom of the street, and it handles children better than most Lakes towns. Whinlatter Forest is the free anchor, ten minutes up the pass: waymarked trails built for short legs, wooden play areas, and red squirrels if you are quiet and lucky. The Lake District Wildlife Park adds lemurs, alpacas and flying displays a few miles north, sized about right for primary-age stamina.
The weather plan matters more here than anywhere, and Keswick has one. The Puzzling Place is a cheap indoor hour of optical illusions, and the anti-gravity room gets replayed at school on Monday. Honister Slate Mine takes older ones underground in helmets when cloud sits down on the fells. With the launch across Derwentwater as the fair-weather treat, a wet forecast is an inconvenience, not a cancellation.
Places in Keswick
Hope Park
Keswick's park between the town and the lake: gardens, a bird hide, remote-control boats on a model Derwentwater, crazy golf, pitch and putt and Cafe Hope. Free to walk through, the games cost extra, and there are no swings.
Whinlatter Forest
England's only true mountain forest: the Room on the Broom trail, Gruffalo orienteering, the WildPlay trail, red squirrels if you are lucky, and Go Ape for older kids. Views over Derwentwater thrown in.
Derwent Pencil Museum
Keswick made the world's first pencils and the museum sits on the works. About an hour indoors: secret wartime pencils with maps hidden inside, and a coloured pencil close to eight metres long.
Keswick Climbing Wall and Rookery Woods
Indoor climbing wall near Castlerigg with 120-plus routes and an instructor-led kids' hour, plus Rookery Woods next door: outdoor zip line, slides, maze, castles and soft archery for under-nines at £6 a day. Cafe and free parking.
Keswick Launch on Derwentwater
Fifty minutes round Derwentwater on the launch, or use the ticket to hop off at a jetty and walk a stretch of shore. Rowing boats for hire until 1 November. Sailings thin out from 9 November and stop in December and January.
Keswick Museum
Keswick's own museum in Fitz Park: galleries on the rocks, history and people of the area, plus a hands-on digital gallery where children play a video game version of the Lake District. Under 5s are free and every ticket covers a year of return visits.
The Puzzling Place
An anti-gravity room where water appears to run uphill, a hologram gallery and a room that shrinks the grown-ups. Cheap, indoor, and exactly the right length for the age group.
Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum
A long-running quarry museum three miles from Keswick, with a narrow gauge railway ride into the quarry included in the ticket, mineral panning and a yard full of old diggers. Excellent for any child who stops for roadworks.
Go Ape Whinlatter
Two courses strung through England's only genuine mountain forest, above Keswick. Height is the gate here, not age: one metre for Treetop Adventure, 1.2m and a sixth birthday for Plus, which finishes on a 130 metre zip wire.
Honister Slate Mine
A working slate mine at the top of Honister Pass with guided tours deep into the mountain, and via ferrata routes up the crag for the brave. Tours take all ages; the climbing starts at ten.
Lake District Wildlife Park
A proper zoo day near Bassenthwaite: birds of prey flying displays, meerkats, a hand feeding zone, and indoor soft play for when the Lakes weather does its thing. No booking needed.
Springs Farm
A working family farm under a mile from Keswick town centre, where a tractor trailer takes you out to feed Highland cows and meet the pigs, goats and Herdwicks. Weekend tours only and they must be booked.
Theatre by the Lake
Keswick's theatre sits by the lake and runs short family shows in the school holidays, with a lakeside cafe open from 9.30am. The rainy-day answer in the northern Lakes.
What’s on in Keswick
9 dated events coming up, 1 of them this weekend.
Stay and Discover on Wednesdays (under 5s)
Keswick Museum, Station Road
until 9 Dec. Wednesdays, 10am to 11am, until 9 December
Stay and Discover at Keswick Museum, a story with Becky and Digby followed by a creative session for under 5s. Free, one booking per family, every term time Wednesday.
Written by us
A Christmas Carol at Theatre by the Lake
Theatre by the Lake, Lakeside, Keswick
13 Nov to 3 Jan. 13 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, 7.15pm with matinees on various days
Keswick's big Christmas show, made in-house with the music company Goblin: Scrooge, Marley's ghost and the full Dickens, age 6 and up. There is a relaxed performance on 24 November, an audio described show on 5 December, and captioned and signed shows on 12 December.
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Santa's Secret Grotto at Honister Slate Mine
Honister Slate Mine, Honister Pass · Keswick
14 Nov to 23 Dec. Selected dates, 14 November to 23 December
Santa, underground. A bus takes you up to a hidden entrance, you walk lit tunnels past the elves' workshop and the sleigh chamber, make a wish and get a gift, then come down an underground sledge slope. The mine's own words are that it sells out every year without exception, and at the top of Honister Pass in December, check the road before you set off.
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Christmas at Springs Farm
Springs Farm, Springs Road, Keswick
5 Dec to 20 Dec. Saturdays and Sundays, 5 to 20 December, 1pm to 3pm
A working farm on the edge of Keswick: a tractor trailer tour past the Highland cows, sheep, pigs and goats, then crafts, face painting and a Santa visit with gifts in the cafe. Only two adults per child fit on the trailer, spare grown-ups wait in the cafe, which in a Keswick December is not the worst job.
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Santa trains at Threlkeld Quarry
Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum, Threlkeld · Keswick
5 Dec to 24 Dec. 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 22, 23 and 24 December, trains 10.15am to 3.15pm
The quarry's railway runs Santa trains through December, seven departures a day from 10.15am. The page does not say what is included or what it costs, so check before you promise a present.
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Keswick Victorian Fayre (opens in a new tab)
Market Square and Pack Horse Court, Keswick
6 Dec. Sunday 6 December
Keswick town centre goes Victorian for the day, with entertainment on the Market Square stage and in Pack Horse Court, and free children's costume competitions every hour. Put them in something Dickensian and layered, it is December in the Lakes.
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Everything on in Keswick3 more not shown here
Also worth the drive
Not in Keswick, but close enough for a day out.
Windermere Lake Cruises
England's biggest lake from the deck of a proper boat, on colour-coded routes from the 45-minute Islands cruise out of Bowness to the Yellow run down to Lakeside. Combo tickets pair it with the aquarium, the steam railway or the motor museum.
Brockhole on Windermere
The old national park visitor centre on the Windermere shore, now run by BeWILDerwood and still mid-makeover. The grounds are free to wander; Minty Land indoor play, Zip World's treetop courses, Wild Bounce and the lake cruises are the paid extras.
The World of Beatrix Potter
Peter Rabbit's world recreated in walk-through scenes, ending in the garden with Mr McGregor's vegetables. Squarely for the under-8s; it is small, sweet and unashamed of it.
Lakes Aquarium
A small, well-done aquarium at the quiet end of Windermere with an underwater tunnel walk beneath the lake's own fish, plus otters and rays. Pairs naturally with the steam railway next door.
Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway
A short, perfectly-formed steam line through the Leven valley that connects with the Windermere boats at Lakeside. Do train plus cruise and you have built the classic Lakes day without a single car park argument.
Lakeland Motor Museum
Thousands of vehicles and period pieces packed into a riverside mill, with the Campbell Bluebird story told properly in its own gallery. One for kids who like machines; a surprisingly good wet-weather card.
Grizedale Forest
Sculptures hidden through the trees turn a forest walk into a treasure hunt, with trails from buggy-flat to proper leg-stretch and Go Ape overhead. Between Windermere and Coniston, and quieter than both.
Muncaster Castle
A lived-in castle above the Esk with a Hawk and Owl Centre whose flying displays are the real event, gardens to roam and a healthy line in ghost stories for the brave. Far, but it earns the drive.
What’s on near you, every Friday
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.