Little family friendly and dog friendly walk to Seat How summit from the Whinlatter forest visitor center. Gorgeous open views from the top of the summit.
Petit randonnée familiale jusqu’au sommet de Seat How depuis le centre d’information de la forêt de Whinlatter. De très belles vues depuis le sommet. Accessible aux chiens.
Information to walk to Seat How summit from Whinlatter forest:
- Distance: 6 km
- Duration: 2h
- Ascent: +207m
- Level: Easy
- Car Park: CA12 5TW, Winlatter visitor center, fees apply
- Pushchair Friendly: There are several pushchair friendly paths around the forest, unfortunately the summit of Seat How is not accessible with a pushchair.
- Dog Friendly: Yes – no livestock, only need to be careful with bicycle.

Beginning of October, the weather was nice again so we decided to go for a forest walk in Whinlatter forest with the hope to see some autumnal colours. We haven’t been to Whinlatter since before Covid so a visit was overdue.
Début Octobre, il faisait un beau temps donc nous avons décidé de partir faire une randonnée en forêt dans la forêt de Whinlatter en espérant voir quelques couleurs automnales. Nous n’avions pas été à Whinlatter depuis avant le Covid.
Read all about our walk to Lord’s seat, Broom Fell and Graystones here. For our walk to Barf and Lord’s seat it is here.

Whinlatter forest is owned by Forestry England. There are a Go Ape, several walking and cycling paths, a lovely cafe and shop, so this place is very popular all year around. If you are looking for a less touristy place, Whinlatter forest is definitely not for you.
La forêt de Whinlatter appartient à Forestry England. Il y a un accrobranche, plusieurs sentiers de randonnées et de vélos, un bon café et magasin, ce qui fait que cet endroit est très populaire toute l’année. Si vous cherchez un endroit peu touristique, la forêt de Whinlatter est malheureusement pas pour vous.
Find more information about Whinlatter forest on Forestry England website.

After checking the map at the visitor center, we opted for the path going to the summit of Seat How with the hope to have a nice view. As any of the paths in Whinlatter forest, the path going to Seat How is very well signposted. We started walking through the forest and then by its side to join the summit of Seat How. The path is wide and goes slowly up, only the last part to reach the summit is smaller and rockier.
Après avoir lu la carte au centre d’information, nous avons choisi le sentier qui va en direction du sommet de Seat How en espérant avoir une belle vue. Comme tous les sentiers dans la forêt de Whinlatter, le sentier qui va a Seat How est très bien indiqué. Nous avons commencé à marcher à travers la forêt, puis avons suivi son côté pour rejoindre le sommet de Seat How. Le sentier est assez large et monte doucement, seulement la dernière partie pour accéder au sommet et plus petite et rocailleuse.
Looking for another forest walk in Cumbria, see our walk in Dodd Wood here.

At the top, we took some time to admire the view over Bassenthwaite lake and up to Keswick and surrounding valley and take some photos. We then took the path going through the other side of the forest to walk back to the visitor center. All along the walk, we had very nice open views. Even though it is a short walk we all had a great time. It was nice to walk a bit in the forest and observe some red/orange colours on the trees.
Au sommet, nous avons pris le temps d’admirer la vue sur le lac de Bassenthwaite, Keswick et les vallées environnantes et prendre quelques photos. Nous avons ensuite pris le sentier qui descendait dans l’autre partie de la forêt pour marcher jusqu’au centre d’information. Nous avons eu de très belles vues tout le long de la randonnée. Même si c’est un randonnée assez courte, nous avons tous passé un bon moment. C’était agréable to marcher un peu dans la forêt et d’observer les couleurs rouge/orangées dans les arbres.
Do you know Whinlatter Forest?
Connaissez vous la forêt de Whinlatter?













Find all our adventures in the Lake District and Cumbria on this page.
Whinlatter is one of our favourite forests to visit. They have a new dog trail I read 👌🐶
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I haven’t seeing the new dog trail or it wasn’t labelled as such. It is a nice forest to visit even though it is really busy compared to some other places in Cumbria. Thank you for your visit.
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A clear Autumn day is perfect for a family walk like this, Melodie. I’m sure lots of people will love it.
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Thank you Jo. It was nice indeed.
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Je ne connais pas cette forêt mais c’est le genre de balade que j’aime beaucoup faire : pas trop difficile mais permettant de se ressourcer.
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C’est un agréable en effet mais il y a un peu de monde et il faut faire attention aux vélos quand les chemins se croisent.
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Sounds like a lovely forest walk Mél and I love mossy trees! I think there is an Osprey nest in Whinlatter with a webcam in the visitor centre?
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Yes they have cameras to observe the Ospreys. It is lovely to see them when they are in their nest. If you are lucky you can see them flying over Bassenthwaite lake.
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Even though it was a short walk, at least it was scenic. I love all those mossy trees.
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The views were very nice. I also like all this moss on the trees.
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This is such a beautiful trail – I love those beautiful views over the treetops stretching all the way to the horizon. Thanks for stopping by, and happy 1st of November 🙂 Aiva xx
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Thank you Aiva, happy 1st November to you too ☺️.
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🥰🥰🥰
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Nature is always beautiful! Looking so fresh. Your forest walk is really good 💯
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Thank you Priti for your visit and kind words.
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🙏
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Beautiful pictures. Your dog is so handsome.
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Thank you. He is very sweet.
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What a beautiful walk, the views are stunning!
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Thank you very much for your comment.
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It’s lovely to find a forest nearby when you’re in the fells
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Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of forest in Cumbria and they are mainly plantations. Loweswater forest is nice but a lot of trees have died in the past couple of years.
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Exactly. There are nice old woods at Brothers Water and Haweswater.
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Thank you for that. I didn’t know, I will check them ☺️.
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I love woodland walks, especially at this time of year! That looks stunning!
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We are the same we love forest, unfortunately we don’t have a lot here they are mainly plantations with no wildlife in them.
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Oh no, that’s such a shame 😦
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