Holiday Homes in Egremont

A genuine medieval market town on the River Ehen, Egremont sits just outside the western edge of the national park, a few miles inland from the coast at St Bees and south of Whitehaven. Of the towns on this western side of Cumbria it is among the most welcoming for visitors, with a real high street, a castle and a famously eccentric annual fair, and it is well placed for the quiet western fells.

At the head of the long main street stand the ruins of Egremont Castle, dating from the twelfth century, a fine spot from which to take in the town. Egremont is best known for its Crab Fair, held since at least 1267 and one of the oldest fairs in the world, the highlight of which is the World Gurning Championships, where competitors pull the most grotesque faces they can through a horse collar. The town's iron-mining past lives on too, not least at the nearby Florence Mine, which was the last working deep iron-ore mine in Europe.

Egremont makes a practical and characterful base for the less-visited western Lakes. The coast and St Bees are close by, while the beautiful valleys of Ennerdale and Wasdale, leading up to the highest fells, are within easy reach. For a real town on the doorstep of the wild west of the Lakes, choose one of our Egremont holiday homes.