Ravenbridge Mill

Cumbria
Self-catering
+44 (0)7968 379919
Visit owner's website

From
£256 - £698
per night
From
£1795 - £2995
per week

A grand place for up to 12 adventurous souls and the young at heart: swim, bob in a boat, hike and cycle or simply revel in the greenery and peace

Bed

12 beds

Bedroom

6 bedrooms

Sleeps

Sleeps 12

Children welcome
Pets welcome
Babies welcome

£256 - £698 per night

£1795 - £2995 per week

The Experience

This old mill house with 17th-century beginnings sits in the Eden Valley at the bottom of Hartside pass (serious cyclists will disappear for hours) with the Pennines on one side and the Lakes on the other. You have your own lake with boats and a wood-fired sauna, 21 acres to explore, trees to climb, a Beck (when it’s low) to paddle in, dens to build and blessed freedom well away from cars and other people.

If the weather is foul, hunker down in the large beamed living room with comfy sofas, loads of books and a wood-burner – everything is warm and generous. Find a separate studio outside with pool table, a stage and a dressing up box for drama queens. A large friendly kitchen has doors to the courtyard, all the basics for cooking and fresh flowers from the pretty garden, where you can pick soft fruit and herbs in season.

Stock up in Lazonby (ten minutes) or the nearest pub is at Kirkoswald, four miles – pie night is Thursday.

Ravenbridge Mill - Gallery

We think you'll love

  • Bringing all the family and getting back to nature far from any cars or crowds
  • Lighting up the fire pit and watching millions of stars come out on clear nights
  • Swimming in the lake then rushing to the sauna
Ravenbridge Mill - Gallery

You should know

  • It's better for older children who can swim
  • Stags and hens please do not come - it's not that sort of place
  • Dogs are £20 extra and are not allowed in the bedrooms

Essentials

  • EV charger
  • Self check-in
  • Swimming pool
  • Hot tub
  • Garden
  • Open fire / woodburner
  • Breakfast included
  • Breakfast available
  • Meals available
  • Vegetarian meals
  • Oven
  • Parking on premises
  • Free parking nearby
  • Accessible by public transport
  • WiFi
  • Television
  • Central heating
  • Limited mobility
  • Wheelchair access
  • Mobile reception
  • Hob
  • Barbecue
  • Paid parking nearby
  • Air conditioning
  • Relaxation areas
  • Washing machine
  • Tennis court
  • Microwave oven
  • No smoking
  • Credit cards
  • Working farm
  • Owner has pets
  • Electricity included
  • Dishwasher
  • Pets welcome

Family friendly

  • Baby monitor
  • Books and toys
  • Children welcome
  • Babies welcome
  • Stair gates
  • High chair
  • Fire guard
  • Cot available

Nearby

  • Pub/bar within 3 miles
  • Restaurant within 3 miles
  • Shop within 3 miles

Activities

  • Bikes available
  • Food courses
  • Kayaking
  • Other courses
  • Sailing
  • Surfing
  • Wild swimming

Pricing

Nightly price
from £256
Weekly price
from £1795
Damage deposit
£200
1 House for 12
From £25612 beds6 bedrooms

Information

Booking information

Check in
From 4pm
Check out
By 10am
Other details
Minimum stay: 4 nights on weekdays. 3 nights at weekends.
Closed
Occasionally.
Meals
Pub 4 miles.

Reviews

What can we say? There are some places that just exude magic, and Ravenbridge is one of them. Kenneth is just the most thoughtful host; kind, friendly, and also very talented - it's not every holiday that you're treated to a private cello recital with poetry too! The house is gorgeous, the grounds stunning. So peaceful and tranquil. We swam in the lake, we canoed, we sat in the timeless cottage garden and read books... We could hardly have asked for more. Our two dogs thought they were in heaven. We will definitely come back for more time in this wonderful corner of the world.

Jack, London

Wow! What a fabulous place in the most beautiful part of the world. Perfect for us all. We swam in the lake with trepidation, the sauna was a blissful retreat afterwards. We canooed, blissful BBQs on the firepit. And of course the trampoline was a massive hit all round. Have loved exploring the area - the waterfalls at Low and High Force, river picnic, lake walks… All sorts of adventures. Kenneth, you have been so welcoming and thoughtful. The rocket pesto went down a treat. Thank you for letting us enjoy your beautiful house. It was the exact holiday we all needed.

Sarah

"Best holiday ever!" Quote from a very happy 4 year old! Thank you so much for a wonderful stay. We've had an amazing time - just the relaxation we all needed. You've been really welcoming, and your advice on walking up Hartside Pass turned out to be a great day - ice cream at the top and everything! Thank you also for sharing your flowers and produce - what a treat. The whole setting with the lake, fire-pit, sauna, beautiful garden and beautiful setting has made for a really great stay - we hope to come back one day!

Hannah

I really enjoyed the stay and wish to come back with friends. I loved every part of the house and definitely all the outside fun – musical rocks, canoe, the lovely walks. You make wonderful suggestions of fun places to go and explore. It has been lovely and wonderful. You’re a great host! Thank you. Marta, age 10

Marta

If you're excited by the pictures, rest assured the reality is even more magnificent! We recommend Ravenbridge Mill in the highest terms. Huge thanks to Kenneth for such a warm welcome, great humour and for sharing your bonfire & baked potatoes with us! We'll be back. We swam in the lake and enjoyed the beautiful sauna, which looks out over the water. With Kenneth’s blessing, the children picked apples and plums from the trees. The house is full of character and very spacious—our two families coexisted extremely comfortably. The ground-floor bedroom is a plus for those with limited mobility.

Hania

We had a magical week here - an amazing break from the real world in a stunning location. The lake is beautiful, we had so much fun on the canoes and the forest sauna was a wonderful and relaxing way to warm up. Kenneth was a wonderful host and there were so many fantastic touches: the trampoline, the studio with a stage where the children put on plays, the firepit and many more. The location is beautiful and we enjoyed walks from the door into gorgeous countryside. We would thoroughly recommend Ravenbridge Mill. We actually booked another trip the same day we returned home!

Helen

One of the nicest, most magical places we have stayed; just wish it could have been longer! Thank you for sharing your amazing home with all it has to offer and to inspire. Can't wait to come back. Kate, Chris, Eliza, Fred & Arthur. Oh, and the blackcurrants! <3

Christopher

What a place! We stayed for my husband's 40th for a week. We were bowled over by the sheer beauty of the house and its grounds, and were particularly enamoured with the lake and sauna. The house is fab inside - lots of rooms to explore and play hide and seek in, and loads of bathrooms too. There are so many things for the kids to do, but I can totally imagine coming back to this house with a bunch of friends too. Kenneth was unobtrusive but very helpful. He even gave us some freshly picked beetroot which was fab! Highly recommended.

Miranda

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Location

The neighbourhood

You're down a wooded track and half a mile from the nearest neighbour. Join the Pennine Way for fabulous hiking, cycle or walk up to Hartside - from the top you can see Scotland and the Lakes on clear days. Lazonby has food shops but Booths in Penrith are worth visiting for very good local produce. You can be at the foot of Blencathra in 35 minutes avoiding all the crowds.

Local points of interest from Kenneth Wilson

  • Ravenbridge Mill sits in its own grounds of 21 acres, including a lake, orchard and woods. The stone-walled courtyard garden, by the kitchen door, is sheltered and lovely when the sun shines, and has plenty of seats, and a little fire pit for cooking.
  • The lake is special, whatever the season or the weather. There are a couple of boats available to take on the lake, with buoyancy aids. And the brave will definitely want to swim...
  • And, of course, there’s the sauna. Across the lake from the house, and camouflaged among the trees, the cord-wood and grass-roofed sauna is always a favourite. You can easily spend a couple of hours alternating between hot sauna and cold lake.
  • The Raven Beck, and the smaller Kiln Beck which runs into it, are great for scrambling - except of course when they're in spate, when the Raven can be a spectacular force.
  • Ravenbridge Mill is right at the bottom of Hartside pass - a magnet for cyclists, and a big climb on the Coast2coast route. From the house, at 600ft, you’re straight into the climb, up to the summit at 1900ft. Bring your bikes, and be careful coming down!
  • Ravenbridge – the Pennines on one side, the Lake District on the other, and all the red sandstone villages of the Eden Valley in between. You can get to Blencathra in 35 minutes, and you don’t have to compete with the traffic of Windermere or Keswick.

Introducing

Kenneth Wilson

Kenneth is a thoughtful, gentle host who is living in the grounds in a yurt at the moment but is in the process of building himself a wooden cabin. He added the gallery and the music room to Ravenbridge, put in the biomass heating and built the sauna. He has also planted around 10,000 trees. Performing cellist and poet, Ravenbridge is his family home and he hopes you'll love it as much as he does. He's around if you need him and sometimes is the provider of a homemade cake but otherwise will leave you to it.