This is a beautiful circular walk up to Easedale Tarn, past Sour Milk Gill, which looks even more stunning after heavy rainfall.

I dropped my husband and kids off at the top of the Easedale Road from Grasmere, at GR 331082.  There isn’t any public parking on this road, so I drove back down to the village.  You can park in any of the central pay and display car parks, or head over to the A591 and park for free in the large lay by at GR 343075 (get there early on busy days).  This layby is approx 0.5 miles from GR 331082, so will add a mile onto the walk in total.

By dropping the family off it saved them walking the 0.5 miles from the village.  Gotta look after those little legs (and my husband’s, who’s pulled a calf muscle!)

Once I’d returned, we headed off along the well signed bridleway, up the Easedale valley.  The navigation along this walk was very easy, with clear paths all the way round.  It’s a lovely open start to the walk and if you look up to the right you can see Helm Crag, locally known as the Lion and the Lamb.  We’ll save that walk for another day!

Quite near the beginning of the walk you can see the Sour Milk Gill falls in the distance.  Keep heading that way!  You start to climb quite steeply, but it’s manageable.  Our almost 3 year old climbed most of the way to the top on her own, which we were quite impressed by!  The kids loved all the little bridges to cross and big rocks to clamber up (by the side of the path).

The climax of the waterfalls is as GR 317088.  At this point the well trodden path turns left and it’s only a little bit further on until you reach Easedale Tarn.  Lovely place for a picnic, paddle or if you’re really brave a dip!  We saw a group of organised swimmers in the tarn, so next time we might even take the wet suits up with us.

After a long play at the waters edge, we crossed the stepping stones and headed back down, following the footpath to Stythwaite Steps.  Turn right here and the bridleway takes you all the way back down to Easedale Road, passing the Lancrigg Hotel, which is where the walk up the Lion and Lamb starts.

We walked down into Grasmere Village and ate at Tweedies Bar.  Really liked it in there.  Relaxed but busy atmosphere, great food and family friendly.  It had a large outdoor area for sunny days too.  We didn’t try it at the time, but there was a large selection of real ale here too.  Can’t recommend this place highly enough.

And if you have enough time and/or energy, Grasmere also has a great kids playground at GR 338078.

The circular loop is 3.5 miles from where I dropped the kids off.  If you include the 0.5 mile walk to the A591 lay by, it’s 4.5 miles.  Although you might want to park in a central Grasmere car park to reduce the distance for little legs.

For more walks like this, stay up to date and “like” our facebook page Family Walks and Pubs in the Lake District

We went clockwise. The green bit is the walk down the road to Grasmere Village