Bank GroundFarm

Bank Ground Farm is a working farm on the north-east shore of Coniston Water, run by the Batty family, who raise Aberdeen Angus cattle and Jacob sheep across some 200 acres between Coniston and Hawkshead. Its Grade II listed farmhouse, with fifteenth-century origins, low beamed ceilings and open log fires, has taken bed and breakfast guests for more than sixty years and now offers six en-suite rooms alongside self-catering cottages. Arthur Ransome used the farm as the model for Holly Howe in his novel Swallows and Amazons, and the 1974 film adaptation was shot on location here. Run by Jonathon and Shayla Batty as a single family business rather than a hotel group property, the farm combines its working agriculture with cooked breakfasts and traditional Lake District activities on the doorstep.