Start with the big three slate-quarry caverns — Rydal Cave, Cathedral Cave and Hodge Close — all free, open access and walk-up. Then three more caves worth knowing, from a Borrowdale hermit's home to a clifftop bivvy for experienced hillwalkers. Directions, parking and honest notes for each.
The complete guide
The Lake District's "caves" aren't natural caverns — they're the dramatic legacy of centuries of slate quarrying, and they're some of the most atmospheric places in Cumbria. The big three are Rydal Cave above Rydal Water, Cathedral Cave in Little Langdale, and the flooded Hodge Close Quarry. This is the complete guide to visiting all three — and, lower down, three more caves worth knowing, from Millican Dalton's hermit home in Borrowdale to a sandstone folly in the Eden Valley.
And the thing everyone gets wrong first: they're all free. No tickets, no booking, no opening hours — you just turn up and walk in. People search "Rydal Cave tickets" or "Cathedral Cave reviews" expecting a paid attraction; they're open-access sites on National Trust and common land. They're also genuinely family-friendly — local families visit them all the time. The only real care needed is around the deep water at Hodge Close and the dark connecting tunnel at Cathedral Cave, both covered below.
The big three
Each links through to a full guide with directions, parking, postcodes and how to visit.
📍 Near Ambleside · 🚶 30–40 min · 🐕 Dog-friendly
The most popular and accessible of the three — a vast slate cavern above Rydal Water with a shallow pool at its mouth that people stepping-stone across for the classic photo. Reached on the lovely Rydal Water / Loughrigg Terrace walk. The family favourite.
Rydal Cave — walk, parking & how to visit
📍 Little Langdale · 🚶 30–45 min in · 🔦 Torch for one tunnel
Also called Cathedral Quarry or Cathedral Cavern — a breathtaking 40-foot chamber lit by two natural "windows," hence the name. Reached via the packhorse Slater's Bridge. Note: the main chamber is open, but a recent rockfall has closed the upper tunnels — follow on-site signs.
Cathedral Cave & Hodge Close guide
📍 Little Langdale · 📸 The "skull" arch · ⚠️ Deep pool
A dramatic flooded slate quarry — a huge arch above a deep green pool. From the right angle the arch and its reflection look like a giant skull. A spectacular, safe photography spot from the edge; the pool itself is very deep and not for swimming. Often combined with Cathedral Cave.
Hodge Close — the skull & how to visitBeyond the big three
Beyond the big three, the Lakes hide a handful of other caves worth the walk — from the hermit's home on Castle Crag to a sandstone folly above the River Eden, and a famous clifftop bivvy that's strictly for experienced hillwalkers. Here's how to find them, and what to know before you go.
📍 Borrowdale, near Keswick · 🚶 ~3 miles return from Rosthwaite · 🐕 Dog-friendly · 🔦 Torch handy
The cave where a man lived for 50 summers. Millican Dalton, the self-styled "Professor of Adventure," made his home in these former slate-quarry caves on the flank of Castle Crag in the early 20th century, working as a mountain guide and famously rafting down to Keswick for coffee and cigarettes. In the upper "sleeping" cave his carved inscription survives: "Don't waste words jump to conclusions."
It's a two-level quarry cave in the woods on the eastern side of Castle Crag, above the River Derwent in the Jaws of Borrowdale — reached on an easy, mostly flat riverside walk from Rosthwaite (~3 miles return / under 3km each way). From the Rosthwaite NT car park, head through the village past Yew Tree Farm (Flock-In tearoom), down to the river, cross New Bridge (or the stepping stones if low), then follow the riverside path north. Watch for an unmarked path forking up to the right into the old quarry workings — the cave is up in the trees and is genuinely easy to miss. The lower entrance is a small outlying cave; take the path up to the right for the main cave, which is dry inside, with the inscription in the upper chamber.
Nearest pub / refuel: the Flock-In Tea Room (Nook Farm, Rosthwaite — NT tenant-farm café, on the route); nearest pubs the Riverside Bar at the Scafell Hotel, Rosthwaite and the Langstrath Country Inn, Stonethwaite.
📍 Dove Crag, near Patterdale · 🚶 ~5.5 miles, serious mountain walk · ⛰️ Exposure + scramble · 🌥️ Good visibility essential
This is not a family walk-up — read this first
The Priest's Hole is a high bivvy cave cleaved into Dove Crag at over 600m, reached by a long mountain walk and a final faint, exposed, hands-on scramble. Attempt it only in good visibility and dry, snow- and ice-free conditions. The access path is faint and the cave can't be seen from close up — people get lost in mist. Wet, greasy or icy rock makes the traverse genuinely dangerous, and there are sheer drops on the exposed section; in winter this is a mountaineering objective (axe and crampons), not a walk. Not suitable for young children or anyone uneasy with heights or scrambling.
One of the Lake District's most famous "secret" shelters — a tear-shaped cave high on Dove Crag with a dry-stone wall across its mouth, a visitors' book inside, and a 180° panorama of the northern fells, beloved of wild campers and bivvy-baggers. Despite the name it was almost certainly never a real priest's hiding hole — likely a romantic later name (possibly a hermit's cell). A genuine "priest hole" actually sits in the fireplace of Hartsop Hall, the farm you pass on the way.
From Cow Bridge car park by Brothers Water, follow the path along the lake to Hartsop Hall, then take the fainter right fork climbing alongside Dovedale Beck (keep the beck on your left, don't cross). Climb until the ground steepens then grasses over and head for a large boulder; from there a faint sheep trail curves left and up across the faultline to the cave, visible as a dark tear-shaped shadow on the crag in clear weather. The final approach needs hands on rock for a couple of moves. Allow a full half-day (~5.4–5.8 miles round trip). If you wild camp, pack everything out — litter is a recognised problem here, and the cave fills up, so have a backup plan.
Nearest pub / refuel: the Brotherswater Inn (campsite shop does takeaway breakfast baps; meals evenings/weekends) is closest; also the White Lion, Patterdale.
📍 Eden Valley, near Little Salkeld / Kirkoswald · 🚶 ~4.75-mile circular · 🐕 Dog-friendly · 🏛️ 18th-c folly
Five chambers hand-carved into a red sandstone cliff above the River Eden — an 18th-century "romantic folly" rather than a quarry or natural cave. Commissioned by Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Lacy of Salkeld Hall in the 1700s (when ruins and grottos were fashionable), they were used to entertain guests and store wine, surrounded by ornamental gardens. Local folklore has it that Lacy tried to blow up the nearby Long Meg stone circle, only for a sudden storm to stop him — and that he hired a hermit to live in the caves for atmosphere.
They're carved into the soft red sandstone just north of Little Salkeld, usually done as a lovely, mostly-flat ~4.75-mile circular from the village that also takes in Long Meg and Her Daughters (the third-largest stone circle in England) — the two pair perfectly. Free, open access, no tickets (people search "Lacy's Caves tickets"; there aren't any). Five linked chambers with window openings frame the river, with benches inside.
Nearest pub / refuel: the Watermill, Little Salkeld (working mill with tea room, bakery & shop, on the route — note seasonal/weekday closures); nearest pubs in Great Salkeld and Kirkoswald (the Fetherston Arms / Crown Inn).
The walk-up caves on this page are all free and open. For a guided experience deep inside a working mountain, Honister Slate Mine near Borrowdale runs ticketed underground mine tours, climbs and via ferrata (ages 4+). It's a paid attraction rather than a free walk-up — so it isn't one of the caves above — but it's the best way to see the inside of a Lakeland mountain.
Find it via the Keswick & Borrowdale hubFurther afield · a Yorkshire Dales day out
A short drive over the border into the Yorkshire Dales — and, unlike the six free walk-up caves above, this one is a paid, guided, ticketed show cave. We've included it because it's the natural pairing with the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail and Ribblehead Viaduct: one brilliant day out, easily reached from the eastern Lakes.
📍 B6255, ~2mi from Ingleton · ⏱️ Guided ~80-min tour · 🌡️ ~8°C year-round · 🚗 Drive-up car park
White Scar is a genuine natural limestone cave — not a slate quarry like the Lakeland "caves" above — and it's billed as the longest show cave in Britain. You explore it on a guided tour (around 80 minutes) along lit walkways, past underground streams and waterfalls to the vast Battlefield Cavern, with its forest of stalactites. It's a proper all-weather attraction: perfect for the day the Dales weather turns.
Because it's a managed attraction, it's paid and ticketed — booking is advised in peak periods — with a café and shop on site. The tour involves steps and some low passages, so it's not step-free; wear sturdy footwear and bring a warm layer, as it stays around 8°C and can be wet and drippy underfoot whatever the season.
It's the question people ask most, because there are two ticketed show caves near Ingleton and they're easy to mix up. Here's the honest difference — and which one fits this day out:
| White Scar Caves | Ingleborough Cave | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | B6255, 2mi from Ingleton | Near Clapham |
| Getting there | Drive up, car park at entrance | ~20-min scenic walk in from Clapham |
| Tour | Guided ~80 min · longest show cave in Britain | Guided, shorter; separate operator |
| In this day out? | ✅ Yes — 5 min from the falls | ❌ Different side — its own trip |
Both are worth doing — but only White Scar sits on the B6255 with the Ingleton falls and Ribblehead. Ingleborough Cave is on the far side of Ingleborough near Clapham and makes a separate day. [Peter: if you've visited Ingleborough Cave too, we can add a first-hand line.]
Make a Yorkshire Dales day of it
White Scar, the falls and the viaduct sit within five minutes' drive of each other on the B6255 — one varied day out from the Lakes. Do the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail in the morning, White Scar Caves for an underground hour out of the weather, and the Ribblehead Viaduct Walk for the late light and the story of the lost navvy village.
Sensible, not scary
These are family days out, not danger zones — fine unless you do something daft, the same as any fell top. Three things genuinely matter.
Rydal Cave needs none. At Cathedral Cave the first tunnel is fine in daylight, but one connecting tunnel is over 100m long and genuinely dark — a phone torch is plenty.
Wet slate is slick — sturdy footwear, and take the rocks slowly after rain. The entrance pool at Rydal looks deep in photos but is shallow; it's for paddling and pictures, not swimming.
The Hodge Close pool is brilliant to look at and dangerous to enter — very deep, used for technical diving, with a history of fatalities. Enjoy it from the edge; keep children back. Don't swim or jump.
Keep exploring
20 spots with directions — note which quarry pools are NOT for swimming.
The best walks by area, difficulty and type — many pass these caves.
The off-beat Lake District — caves, ruins and hidden corners.
Including the Little Langdale and Tilberthwaite lanes near the caves.
Common questions
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