Windermere Jetty is Lakeland Arts' boat museum on Rayrigg Road, and its trick is the wet dock: the collection of steam launches, motorboats and yachts sits in water under cover, so children see boats floating and not beached in a hall. It is a proper indoor day when the weather turns, which on Windermere it will.
Entry is twelve pounds an adult, nine for a student, six for a child aged 15 and under, and free for under-5s. Family tickets are twenty pounds for one adult with up to three children and thirty for two adults with up to three. There is a lakeshore cafe serving food until 3pm, a gift shop, bike racks and accessible parking.
The heritage boat trips are extra, at 16.50 an adult and 8 a child aged 5 to 15 for half an hour, or 35 for two adults and up to three children, and they are the part everyone remembers. Under-5s ride free. A family of four is looking at 65 all in once the family boat ticket goes on top of family entry, which is a lot, and worth it if the weather holds. Daily trips run until 1 November; after that it is pre-booked exclusive trips only.
Parking flips between two systems. From 18 July to 30 August it is 5 pounds for two hours up to 12 for the day; the rest of the year you get four hours free if you spend 5 pounds on site. From 5 October the museum closes on Mondays (except 26 October), and from 2 November to 22 March it opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm.
What it costs: Museum entry: adult £12, student £9, child 15 and under £6, child 4 and under free, family £20 for one adult and up to three children or £30 for two adults and up to three children. Heritage boat trips cost extra: 30 minutes at £16.50 an adult, £8 for a child aged 5 to 15, under-5s free, or £35 for two adults and up to three children. Daily trips run to 1 November, weather permitting; after that only pre-booked exclusive trips. Parking in peak season, 18 July to 30 August, is £5 up to two hours, £7 for two to four hours and £12 for the rest of the day; outside peak you get four hours free with £5 spent in the cafe or museum.
Seasonal: Tue to Sun; 10am to 4pm from 2 November. Check before travelling.
Looking for more days out in Windermere & Bowness?
Sending it to the group chat?
★★★★★ 4.6 across 1,708 Google reviews.
Read all 1,708 reviews on Google - filter by star rating there
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.
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.
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.
The classic first family fell: a short climb from Windermere village to a proper summit with the whole lake and the high fells laid out below. A surfaced accessible path now runs all the way up, though it is still a real 120-metre climb, not a stroll.
Ten acres of fellside garden looking down over Windermere, run by the Lakeland Horticultural Society: terraces, a walled garden, glasshouses and children's trails. No fixed entry price and children go free.
A new woodland-themed adventure golf course at Troutbeck Bridge, just outside Windermere, with little animal characters to spot round the holes and a golf-and-swim family deal with the health club pool next door.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.