Route: Place Fell
Area: Far Eastern Lake District
Date of walk: 20th March 2025
Walkers: Andrew and Gilly
Distance: 4.9 miles
Ascent: 1,700 feet
Weather: Sunny and warm
We’d enjoyed sun and blue skies, with hardly a breath of wind, on yesterday’s walk up Silver How. Today’s weather promised more of the same, so without ado we headed to the east of the district to revisit one of our favourite fells, Place Fell
We parked by the George Starkey Hut in Patterdale. There are other places to park in Patterdale if the small car park is full. We followed the track to Side Farm, which starts from beside the hut. Place Fell looms up behind it. We turned left at the farm and followed the wonderful path along the shore of Ullswater – one of the best in the Lake District – leaving it after a short distance to start the climb up to Place Fell. The junction is now marked by the Artist’s Seat. The inscription reads ‘Three artists J M W Turner, Ann Macbeth & John Glover were inspired by this landscape’
The path leads through an area shown on the OS map as Hare Shaw and it’s clearly not used very often, though the route is never in doubt. It’s a little known path and as a result we had it to ourselves. Along the way we kept looking back to savour the spectacular views back over Ullswater and the Helvellyn Range beyond
Beyond Hare Shaw we gained the summit ridge and started the ascent to the top of the fell. The path is fainter here but the going is easy and before long we reached the summit cairn, marked by a shapely OS Trig point. Although it was rather hazy, the views were lovely. Click on the link for a panorama:
We set off on the descent to Boredale Hause, an easy way down. The views during the descent, especially those into the side valleys of Grisedale and Deepdale, were wonderful. All too soon we arrived back at Side Farm and from here we retraced our steps to the end of a five star walk
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Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)
Scroll down – or click on any photo to enlarge it and you can then view as a slideshow
St Patrick's Church Patterdale, near the start of today's walk
From the nearby George Starkey Hut we cross the bridge over Goldrill Beck and head towards Side Farm
Side Farm ahead, and the lower slopes of Place Fell beyond
Looking back to Patterdale
Having turned left at Side Farm we follow the path above Ullswater
Looking across Ullswater to Glenridding
We follow the easy path, part of the long distance Ullswater Way
Looking back
Just beyond this old barn we reach an important junction
The Artist's Seat. We leave the Ullswater Way here and follow a path which heads uphill
The tablet on The Artist's Seat...
...an inspiring landscape
The path to Hare Shaw is easy to follow and easy to climb
Ever improving views back to Ullswater as we continue the ascent...
Looking across to Helvellyn as we pass by a small tarm
Left to right, Dollywagon Pike, Nethermost Pike, Helvellyn, Catsycam, Birkhouse Moor, White Side and Raise
We follow the faint path towards the summit of Place Fell
The valleys of Grisedale and Glenridding, with Helvellyn beyond
This appears to be another lake, but it's the foot of Ullswater, with the Pennines in the distance
Grisedale seen below the summit of Place Fell
The beautifully positioned OS trig point at the summit of Place Fell
Ullswater, Glenridding and the Helvellyn Range from Place Fell
We set off on the descent, aiming for Boredale Hause
Deepdale and Grisedale below on our right
We follow a fainter path on the right which avoids an up and a down
Boredale Hause below, where we'll turn right
Having reached Boredale Hause we head back towards Ullswater
The wooded slopes of Keldas as the path from Side Farm comes into view
We follow the track back into Patterdale
We arrive back at the George Starkey Hut at the end of a wonderful walk
