Walking the lakeside loop

Twenty minutes if you don't stop, two hours if you do. A walk around camp, from the boathouse to the old larches.

The loop starts at the boathouse and follows the shore west on a gravel path you can walk in slippers. It’s about 1.6 km, and almost everything at Fernwater is on it.

From the boathouse to the meadow

Past the jetty the path drops onto the shore itself. This is where the lakeshore pitches are, and where the morning swimmers leave their towels on the stones. At the sauna, look for the reed bed on your left: it cleans all the water from the washhouse before it reaches the lake.

Up through the pines

From the meadow the loop climbs to the fire circle and the pine terrace. In August the path is lined with lingonberries; pick what you like, but leave the mushrooms to people who know them.

The best view of the lake is from the bench behind pitch 41. Nobody believes us until they sit there.

The old larches

The last stretch runs through the oldest trees in the camp to the Heron treehouse. Turn back at the stair: the platform is for its guests only.