Within a short drive, the world famous Lake District offers visitors some of the most spectacular scenery in the country with many opportunities for walking, sailing or sightseeing.
Cartmel is situated at the southern end of the Lake District, very close to the northern shore of Morecambe Bay. The nearest town of any size is Grange-over-Sands, a popular holiday resort a little over three miles away Cartmel grew up around the Priory Church which was founded by Augustine Monks in 1190 and which has a vivid and well documented history all of its own. The historic town of Cartmel is a charming village. It can boast one of the finest ecclesiastical buildings in the north of England. Having celebrated its 800th anniversary, the Priory Church of St Mary and St. Michael still serves as the centre of the community.
Depite suffering at the hands of numerous marauding forces over the centuries, not least those of Cromwell, the church is in a remarkable state of preservation and is a must for all visitors to Cartmel. The Market Cross and Fish Slabs, even though the cross is long since gone, is still very much the heart of the village. Around the square is a delightful assortment of genuine old world buildings serving as they have for centuries, as friendly inns, well stocked shops and private dwellings.
Cartmel has almost everything anyone could want. The whole of the Lake District, the Kent and Lune Valleys and the Yorkshire Dales can be explored with ease. Holker Hall, one of the north's best known historic houses, and the Lakeland Motor Museum incorporating the Campbell Legend Bluebird Exhibition, are literally down the road. The pleasant seaside town of Grange-Over-Sands is merely up and over the fell, Lake Windermere and Coniston Water with all their attractions can be reached in less than half an hour.
