You won’t find a sign that points neatly to Lancashire North of the Sands but, generally speaking, it’s the areas around the Furness and Cartmel peninsulas. As spring and summer saw the usual rush to the tourist-packed towns and villages of Lakeland, many were choosing instead to visit this less-explored corner which includes the towns of Cartmel, Grange-over-Sands, Ulverston, Barrow and Dalton. Cartmel Priory.
(Image: Getty Images) If your taste is for elegant prettiness, then Grange-over-Sands with its genteel parks, tea rooms and bandstand concerts tick all the boxes, reports Lancashire Life . A little further along, Cartmel with its historic priory and chocolate box cottages, is perfect for luxury shopping. Take a champagne picnic along to the Cartmel races – maybe pack some of the famous Cartmel sticky toffee pudding – whether your horse wins or not, you’ll have a thoroughly good time.
If you like gatherings and festivals, then check out Ulverston: with at least a dozen each year, it’s nicknamed England’s Festival Town. The Royal Society of Arts and Heritage listed Barrow as England’s number one borough for natural assets and anyone who explores its 60km of coastline will agree: there are heaps of cycle and walking trails. The sandy dunes of Sandscale Haws and Roanhead beach are teeming with wildlife and Artic and Little Tern breed on Foulney Island.
Piel Island – with its castle and ‘king’, aka landlord of The Ship Inn – is reachable by ferry. Da.
