United Kingdom · GB

Appleby-in-Westmorland

Appleby-in-Westmorland is the ancient market town and former county town of Westmorland, sitting in a loop of the River Eden with the North Pennines rising to the east and the Lake District fells showing faintly on the western horizon. Small enough to take in on foot yet full of history, it has kept an unspoilt, old-world charm that bigger tourist hubs have long lost. Its single grand, tree-lined street sweeps uphill from a Norman church to a Norman castle, and beyond its borders run some of the finest riverside and fell walks in northern England. Most visitors come for three things: the celebrated Appleby Horse Fair each June, the atmospheric castle and parish church bound up with the extraordinary Lady Anne Clifford, and the superb walking country of the Eden Valley on the doorstep. It also makes a convenient, friendly base—reachable on the spectacular Settle-to-Carlisle railway—between the Lakes, the Pennines and the Yorkshire Dales.