The upper stone bridge
A tiny early-twentieth-century arch directly over the fall, where the spray soaks anyone standing on it after a wet night.
Twenty metres of water hurled through a rock slot barely a few metres wide, with a little stone arch on top where people stand and get soaked by the spray: that is Aira Force, the best known of the Lake District waterfalls and among its most visited, and it earns the title on a wet day above all. After a fortnight of dry weather it thins to a pretty white thread and not much more, so if the skies have been clear for a while, lower your expectations; if it rained overnight, go early, before everyone else has the same idea. The fall sits in a small glen on the north-western shore of Ullswater, about a kilometre before Aira Beck empties into the lake. The National Trust owns it, and the whole glen is really an arboretum planted by the Howard family of Greystoke in the nineteenth century: giant firs and the strange, spiky Chilean monkey puzzle line the path. The two stone bridges above and below the fall date from the early twentieth century and give the classic photograph. One bay along the shore, at Glencoyne Bay, William and Dorothy Wordsworth passed the daffodils she recorded in her journal in April 1802, and two years later they became 'Daffodils', one of the best-known poems in English. The main loop from the car park to the fall and back is about a mile and a half on gravel paths and a great many steps, most without handrails and slippery in rain, so allow a full hour with children, more if you carry on up to the smaller High Force upstream. A pushchair gets comfortably to the wooded Glade beside the beck, where there are benches, and no further - the National Trust is plain that the fall itself is out of reach for pushchairs and wheelchairs; carry the little ones or let one parent wait there. Entry is free and the real charge is the car park: 7 pounds for two hours, 8.50 for four and 10 for the day, a little less at the three smaller car parks nearby, and free for National Trust members. Toilets and a small tea room, open about 10:00 to 16:30, are the full extent of the facilities. Getting there: from Glenridding at the heart of Ullswater it is three miles, around ten minutes by car; from Penrith and junction 40 of the M6 about 20 minutes; from Keswick 25 to 30 minutes; from Windermere roughly 45 minutes over the Kirkstone Pass, beautiful but narrow. On summer weekends and bank holidays the main car park fills early, often before 10:00, so arrive at the start of the day or after 15:00. Note that the boat is not an option at present: Ullswater Steamers have suspended sailings to the Aira Force pier until further notice, with the route due to reopen in 2027. Instead take the Stagecoach 508 from Penrith, about 30 minutes, or at weekends the 509 from Keswick, getting off at the Aira Force Park Brow stop; a single costs a few pounds. The glen is open dawn to dusk all year, and in winter it is gloriously empty, but the light goes before 16:00 and the tea room keeps shorter hours.
A tiny early-twentieth-century arch directly over the fall, where the spray soaks anyone standing on it after a wet night.
Giant firs and monkey puzzles planted by the Howard family in the nineteenth century turn the walk in into half the pleasure.
Wordsworth's daffodil shore is minutes away by car, and its pebble beach makes the natural family picnic stop after the falls.
A592/A5091 junction, Watermillock, Penrith CA11 0JS
With children who walk on their own, five and up, yes, and the steps are half the adventure. A pushchair only reaches the Glade beside the beck, from which you cannot see the fall, so with a baby use a carrier or take turns at the benches. And if it has not rained for a fortnight the waterfall itself will impress nobody; a lake cruise may be the better use of the day.
Not at the moment. Ullswater Steamers have suspended sailings to the Aira Force pier until further notice and expect the route back in 2027. Your options are the car, ten minutes from Glenridding, the Stagecoach 508 from Penrith or the weekend 509 from Keswick, getting off at the Aira Force Park Brow stop, or the lakeshore path from Glencoyne Bay, about 40 minutes on foot.