Lakeland Visitours also provide guided sightseeing tours of the stunning outer fringes of the Lake District.

The Outer Fringes

Cumbria is not just the Lake District National Park! To the east there is the backbone of England, the Pennines, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, an area of the former county of Westmorland - the moorland to the west of the ancient route from York to Scotland - of rolling green hills and lush agricultural valleys. Notice the distinctive building styles and materials in the attractive villages and towns such as Appleby and Alston.

To the west of the Lake District are the coastal towns of Maryport, Workington, Whitehaven and Barrow-in-Furness. Each have an industrial heritage, of mining and exporting coal and iron ore, of importing rum, sugar and tobacco. Maryport, Whitehaven and Barrow are laid out on a grid-iron plan; Maryport has remains of a Roman fort, currently being excavated; Workington made railway lines that were exported world-wide; Whitehaven has a wealth of Georgian town houses and its Rum Story museum, while Barrow built ships of all kinds, but specialise in submarines.