The underground tour
Ninety minutes by helmet lamp through nineteenth-century chambers, cold all year, open to all ages.
Anthony Foster — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Victuallers — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Victuallers — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Victuallers — CC BY-SA 3.0
Helmet on, lamp lit, you go down some fifty steps into a mountain people have been hollowing out since the late seventeenth century. Honister is the last working slate mine in England, perched at the 356-metre summit of Honister Pass between Borrowdale and Buttermere. The green slate cut here is the same stone roofing the cottages around Keswick, and it still leaves from the working yard beside the visitor centre. The guided mine tour runs about an hour and a half, is open to all ages and costs from GBP 25 a head, with arrival half an hour before your slot. You walk into chambers blasted out in the 1800s and hear how the miners stayed up here through the working week. It is cold underground all year, August included, so a proper jacket and sturdy shoes are not optional. No pushchairs or wheelchairs on the tour and under-16s need an adult with them, but children tend to come out wide-eyed. If you would rather stay above ground, the site itself is free to enter: the gallery, the slate shop and the cafe over the valley make a worthwhile stop on their own if you are driving the pass anyway. What sets Honister apart from every other British mine is what has been built above it: England's first via ferrata, routes clipped to steel cables across the face of Honister Crag (age 10+, GBP 55 to 70, three hours), and since July 2026 what the mine bills as England's longest zip wire, about 1.2 km from the top of the crag, reached only by climbing the via ferrata to the launch point. These are genuinely exposed, feet-over-nothing activities; anyone uneasy with heights will not enjoy them however much the family cheers. Getting there: by car it is 25 to 30 minutes from Keswick through Borrowdale, or about fifteen from Buttermere, on a narrow road with 1-in-4 gradients and hairpins, so take it slowly and expect to pull in for oncoming traffic. There is a large car park at GBP 5 a day, first hour free. The seasonal Stagecoach Honister Rambler (77A and 77C) from Keswick stops at YHA Honister Hause, about a hundred yards from the entrance. Book tours ahead online; they run to a timetable and sell out in the school summer holidays, and the weather on the pass can turn in any month.
Ninety minutes by helmet lamp through nineteenth-century chambers, cold all year, open to all ages.
England's first via ferrata across the crag face and, since July 2026, a 1.2 km zip wire, strictly for those happy with heights.
1-in-4 gradients and hairpins between Borrowdale and Buttermere, one of the finest drives in the Lakes.
Honister Pass, Borrowdale, Keswick CA12 5XN
The mine tour is open to all ages, with under-16s accompanied by an adult, and children usually love it, but it is cold, involves some fifty steps and takes no pushchairs. With toddlers, stop for the cafe and the free gallery and keep going. Climb the Mine and the Infinity Bridge start at age eight, the via ferrata and the zip wire at ten.
In theory yes, on-the-day sales are possible, but tours run to a limited timetable and fill up in July and August, so book online at least a few days ahead. The zip wire in particular has very few places in its first season. In winter you will usually find a same-day slot.