Best to see Lakes on foot.

Byline: By Mike Torpey

While there are spectacular views to be had from the car window, the best way to enjoy Lake District is to get out and explore the mountains, fells and villages on foot.

And there are several points along our route from which to do just that.

Attractive market town Kendal, home of the famous mint cake and Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry, makes an ideal starting point for this tour.

Take the A6 out of the town and head south on the A591 for about five miles passing Sizergh Castle until you come to Levens Hall, built in 1350 as a defence against Scottish raiders of the time.

It was then a primitive pele tower and only became the mansion that stands today during Elizabethan times.

Continuing along the A591 it's worth making a detour to visit Cartmel with its lush meadows, magnificent priory church and historic racecourse.

You can visit the nearby motor museum at Holker Hall, which has a special exhibition on the Donald Campbell speed records. So follow the signpost for the village after turning left for Grange over Sands on the B2571.

Rejoining the main route, a short drive will take you to Newby Bridge and nearby Lakeside close to where the River Levens flows into the southern tip of Lake Windermere.

Leave Newby Bridge on the A592 and follow the road with the lake to your left up to busy Bowness, and on to the town of Windermere Remain on the A592 through rolling fells to Troutbeck, after which the road climbs steeply towards Kirkstone Pass.

There are fine views of the grand fells and as you pass through Bridgend and Patterdale there's plenty of scope for serious walking along with views of High Street and Helvellyn.

The single road along the northern shore of Ullswater offers views of the lake through the trees and it's worth a stop at Aira Force where a 70ft waterfall cascades through the rocks.

Rheged, close to Penrith, features popular family attractions like the National Mountaineering Exhibition, while the town itself boasts the not-to-be-missed Cars of the Stars Museum where you can see the likes of the Aston Martin Vanquish used in James Bond film Die Another Day, the original Batmobile and the A-Team's van.

From Penrith head south on the A6 over Shap Fell, which can be impassable in winter, before continuing on the same road back to Kendal.

Points of interest on or close to the route: Sizergh Castle, Levens Hall, Holker Hall, Helvellyn, High Street, Aira Force, Shap Fell.

For more information, and suggestions for accommodation and food along the way, see Thomas Cook's Signpost Guide to England and Wales, (pounds 14.99).