Dog Walks in Cockermouth

Cockermouth is the quieter north-western gateway to the Lake District — the birthplace of Wordsworth, a handsome Georgian market town at the confluence of the Cocker and the Derwent, and a genuine alternative to the honeypot bases further south if you're arriving with a dog and want to avoid the crowds. It doesn't have Keswick's bustle or Ambleside's scale, and that's exactly the point.

The main street is broad, cobbled and lined with independent shops, and the town has rebuilt itself beautifully after the 2009 floods. What makes Cockermouth a particularly rewarding base for dog walkers is its position: it's closer than Keswick to the western valleys of Buttermere, Loweswater and Ennerdale, which between them offer some of the most spectacular and least crowded walking in the entire national park.

Best Dog Walks in Cockermouth

The Buttermere Lake Circuit (4.5 miles, easy) is the essential introduction — a flat, well-surfaced loop of one of the most photogenic lakes in Lakeland, ringed by the dramatic Haystacks, High Stile and Fleetwith Pike fells. It's the sort of walk where even a reluctant hill-walker will want to keep going, and it's genuinely manageable for dogs of any age. For a longer and wilder day, the Ennerdale Water Circuit (7 miles, easy) loops the most remote of the western lakes — the only one in the national park without a road running along its shore — and gives you a real sense of the Lakeland that existed before the tourists arrived. Both are mostly flat, both suit steady walkers, and both reward the short drive from town. Dog walks in Cockermouth tend to feel quieter than their equivalents further east.

Planning Your Visit

Buttermere village has two National Trust car parks that fill early in summer — arriving by 9am on weekends is wise. Ennerdale's Bowness Knott car park on the north shore is free and usually quieter. Sheep graze both circuits throughout, so leads are essential around livestock, and the ground can be boggy in the outflow sections after rain. After the walk, The Kirkstile Inn at Loweswater is one of the finest walkers' pubs in the country — low-beamed, fire-lit, brewing its own beer, and genuinely pleased to see a muddy dog through the door. Buttermere Court Farm Cafe is a practical lunch stop right on the lake circuit, and the two together make a dog-friendly Cockermouth day out genuinely memorable.