Walks in the Lake District: Binsey | 1.5 Miles

Binsey is a low but prominent hill to the north of beautiful Bassenthwaite in the Northern Fells. At 447m above sea level it’s one of the smaller Lakeland fells but the views on a clear day are amazing. This Binsey walk is a straight forward out-and-back of 1.5 miles.

Wainwright described the views from the summit of Binsey as ‘a viewpoint of outstanding merit’, because of the great views of the Lake District to the south. You can see over the Solway and across to Dumfries and Galloway on a clear day too, apparently. As always, we didn’t have a clear day and we had zero views! Don’t let that put you off though. This would be a great first fell for kids to do.

This Binsey walking route is a relatively short hike up from the car parking space at the bottom. We did this one as a standalone fell – we’d already visited the summits of most of the nearby fells and were just ticking this one off on the way to our holiday accommodation. You could add on Great Cockup as another fell if you wanted to extend the walk.

Where is the best place to park for Binsey?

We parked in a small layby near Binsey Lodge, a house with a mock Tudor style finish (postcode CA7 1HH).

Binsey Walking Route

This is a really simple walk to follow and makes a great first fell for kids to bag. We started in the layby on the opposite side of the road to Binsey Lodge and crossed the road, heading through the wooden gate.

There is a single path up the hillside which climbs steadily for 0.75 miles until it reaches the summit, marked by a trig point and a small stone shelter. The summit is actually an ancient burial tumulus.