UK national park is one of 'world's most beautiful' - and you can explore for £2

19 September 2023 , 08:55

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The Lake District has been named the world's second prettiest national park (Image: Getty Images)

The Lake District is the second most beautiful national park in the whole world, according to social media users.

While half of the world’s most Instagrammable national parks are in the US - with the Grand Canyon National Park ranking as number one - the UK's very own Lake District is presenting the country with 4.1million hashtags, long-haul holiday specialist reports.

It is easy to understand why people are so keen to mark themselves at the Lakes. England’s largest national park is home to some truly magnificent landscapes, picturesque villages, and lots of hiking trails.

The natural landscape in the area is some of the most dramatic you'll find in the British isles. Windermere is the largest lake in the park at 10.5 miles long, and, at 3,209 feet high, England’s biggest mountain, Scafell Pike, is well worth witnessing at least once in your life.

Every year close to 16million people visit the Cumbrian national park to take in its beautiful peaks and stunning lakes, and to visit the plentiful pubs and cream tea rooms. However due to its sheer size, it can be difficult to properly get stuck into the Lake District on a single holiday, unless you spend a fair amount of time on the road.

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UK national park is one of 'world's most beautiful' - and you can explore for £2

Buttermere Lake is another fairly scenic spot (Getty Images)

If you prefer to let someone else do the work so you can kick back and properly take in the views, then you may want to take advantage of new £2 bus fares. A £2 cap on bus fares in England has been extended again until the end of October, the government recently announced, meaning some of the most scenic trips in the country can now be bagged for less than the price of two Greggs vegan sausage rolls.

One of them is the 599, which travels between Kendal, Windermere, Bowness-on-Windermere, Ambleside and Grasmere. The bus calls at Windermere rail station so linking up the route with the train is fairly easy. Along the way you'll pass along Windermere, which is regularly serviced by cruise boats that steam off from the bustling town of Bowness.

In the shadow of the nearby peaks visitors to the town can drop in on the World of Beatrix Potter to learn about the Peter Rabbit author, who lived in the area. Further along the route and still on the banks of the lake is Brockhole, which is home to an activity centre where you can soar through the sky on a treetop adventure, or splash out on the water, try archery, laser clay shooting or just run around the enormous woodland playground.

One man who has got really stuck into the Lake District is Tom Chesshyre, who took on a 379-mile hike around the Lake District in spring 2022 to find its best hidden places.

One area he particularly recommends is Ennerdale. It is the most westerly of the lakes, and the most remote. The water in his deep glacial lake, which is 2.5miles long, is exceptionally clear and contains a number of different fish.

He explained: "It has got no road and it is one of the only main lakes without one next to it, and it has no mobile reception. I stayed in a youth hostel there with no Wi-Fi. It is very remote. They have schemes to reintroduce red squirrels and fritillary butterflies. There's also work on fresh water mussels. Rewilding projects are massive there."