The Retreat

21/02/2025

The Retreat is no longer a holiday let. We would like to thank all those who have been our valued guests over the last nine and half years or so.

20/07/2023

We've found this summer at The Retreat a lovely time for walking, exploring the delights of Keswick itself or for just sitting relaxing in the sun!

07/09/2022

09/05/2022

1 comment

We've been pleased to welcome people to The Retreat in 2022 with now most restrictions gone. The items that had to be removed to take account of Covid have been put back in place and the cottage is back to how we would wish it to be. We've made one significant change this year which is to reduce the occupancy to two for all new bookings. For those who have already booked as a three or four in 2022, do not worry as nothing will have changed for your stay.

14/12/2021

Today was a special day in the history of The Retreat. Until today our water was provided by an old, deteriorating thin metal pipe shared between seven properties. This occasionally caused low water pressure problems. The solution was to replace with new pipes, one for each cottage. Today United Utilties connected the new pipes. The Retreat now has its own reliable water supply, great news for us - and our guests!

09/12/2021

After Storrm Arwen and Storm Barra, when our view of Skiddaw was a grey sky (with no mountain to be seen!), Skiddaw has returned and we've had a lovely bright December day.

08/12/2021

It will soon be Christmas so we've been to The Retreat to prepare the decorations and ensure everything is in place for our guests at Christmas and New Year. The decorations in the town are lovely as in every year.

21/07/2021

For those staying at The Retreat during the summer, you may be interested in the info from the Allerdale Council explaining that the National Park Authority with others has taken the following steps to make sure that people can get the most out of their time in the Lake District:
Provided more temporary car parks in key locations,
Improved parking and camping signage throughout the park,
Expanded the successful multi agency patrol team to include
area specific staff
Enlisted the help of more visitor welcome volunteers
Will continue real time parking information on Safer Lakes to
help visitors plan their day
More litter patrols and new litter picking stations
Additional temporary toilet facilities at Keswick, Bowness,
Wasdale and Buttermere
Increased lake ranger patrols to keep people safe in and on the
water
New free shuttle bus from Cockermouth to Buttermere
Promoting other park and ride initiatives like Keswick park and
sail and an e-bike hire pilot.
There are now 140 specialist Visitor Welcome Volunteers.

We hope you enjoy your summer holiday staying at The retreat!

26/04/2021

We've been preparing for re-opening after the lockdown. Guests are back from Friday 16th April. Apart from the interior cleaning and other work to get things ready, the front porch and the window ledges have been re-painted and work done on the garden and lawn area. We did manage to fit in a walk up Cat Bells in the sun - the view of Keswick in the photo was taken from there. Our cottage is close to the church you see in the middle of the photograph. The other Photo is the view of Skiddaw from the twin bedroom window (but see later photos below in May 21 when we had snow on the fells!) Keswick's shops were pleased to open their doors this week and some cafes and pubs with outdoor space are serving drinks and meals. The market, with its rich variety of stalls, restarted (with a one-way system) on Thursday 15th April.

We're very sorry that many people who booked to stay last year and earlier this year were prevented from doing so. Hopefully people's planned holidays will go ahead from now on. If you are staying here, we hope you have a lovely holiday.

04/10/2020

We're at the cottage this first week in October to upgrade the wifi, add new non-stick pans, put up the QR reader by the door for those using the NHS app and as always to walk in this lovely area. We had a useful reminder today not to place too much reliance on the weather forecast. We were told to expect rain, winds and cloud (only 30% of summits free of cloud) and instead we had wall to wall sunshine, hardly any breeze and most fells entirely clear all day. Of course sometimes the weather is worse than forecast so it's wise to be ready for anything. You can check the top of Skiddaw for cloud each morning from the twin bedroom - but expect it may change during the day!