Go everywhere, Do everything

We spent a week over New Year staying in England’s highest market town. We had a really lovely relaxing week with some fabulous walks and beautiful countryside.

Alston is on Alston Moor and to get there from any direction the road is long and windy so it really does feel like you are in the middle of nowhere.

Where we stayed

We stayed at Mount Hooley Lodge, a beautiful log cabin just outside Alston. The lodge sleeps 8, has a hot tub and is a 5 minute drive or 20 minute walk in to Alston. I would highly recommend the lodge for comfort and views.

Alston

Alston itself is a small market town with a selection of cafes, gift shops and a small outdoor shop. There is a Co-op and a Spar shop that between them had everything we needed for our stay. There is also a selection of traditional pubs to try and also Alston House Hotel serving food.

We had tea and cake in Cobbles Cafe a couple of times and highly recommend their scones.

What we did

We had a full week which included a birthday and New Year’s Eve and day so we did spend some time relaxing and enjoying the lodge but we also did several walks and a day out.

Day 1: Our first walk was a suggestion from the farmer who the lodge. We walked along the footpath along the side of the South Tynedale Railway (a restored railway that does run but was not running when we were there) to The Nook farm shop where we had amazing sandwiches. Then up to Epiacum Roman Fort which is just above The Nook and then back along Isaacs Tea Trail and the river to the Lodge. A walk of about 7 miles.

Day 2: We visited Keswick for the day which is a drive of about an hour from the Lodge. We parked in the Lakeside car park and spent most of the day mooching around the town and shops and sale shopping. It was very busy with what felt like every other person in the Lake District having the same idea as us. As we were a group of 6 it was a bit harder to find somewhere that had space for all of us at lunchtime but we managed to bag a table at Bryson’s, I highly rate the tomato soup there. We finished up the day with drinks at Lake Road Inn (the food looked delicious so we will be putting it on the list of places to eat next time we are in Keswick)and then dinner at Sultan of Keswick. The drive home was a bit of an adventure on some very twisty roads in the dark.

Day 3: High Force waterfall is about a 30 minute drive from Alston so we drove up and did the High and Low Force waterfall walk. You can park at the High Force Hotel and pay to access the walk to the falls (it looked like they had a light trail set up in the woods along the river). However we parked at Bowlees Visitor Centre and walked up the other side of the river past Low Force to High Force and then crossed the river and back through the fields. The walk was approximately 5 miles and had the added bonus of being able to watch the kayakers going over Low Force.

Day 4: New Year’s Eve

A short walk in to Alston to get some supplies and sample some of the pubs.We spent New Year doing a jigsaw and playing board games in the most rock and roll way possible and it was brilliant!

Day 5: We had a lazy start to the day and decided to kick off 2026 with a circular walk from the Lodge to Bleagate. The walk took us past a house with some beautiful white ducks in the garden where a very lovely lady came out and told us all about the ducks, let the kids feed them and offered us to take some home with us (very tempted).

Day 6: We had planned to drive up to Hadrien’s Wall but the weather was getting colder and icier so we decided to do a walk from the Lodge up hill to High Mount Hooley Plantation and along to Blagill, walking back to Alston along the river.

Alston was a really lovely spot for a peaceful getaway. Despite being the middle of winter the scenery was still beautiful and it’s on our list to visit again in the summer months.