7 Best Shopping in The Lake District, England

The smells wafting across the churchyard draw many people to the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop. Since 1854, Sarah Nelson's gingerbread has been sold from this cramped 17th-century cottage, which was once the village school. The delicious treats, still made from a secret recipe, are sold by costumed ladies and packed into attractive tins for the journey home or to eat right away.

Artisanal cheese and the best of Cumbria's local produce, including the town’s famously good toffee, are available at this mouthwateringly good bakery and deli. The hot steak pie is perhaps the best you'll ever taste.

Between Kendal and Windermere, this bakery and café is the place to stop for mouthwatering, award-winning bread, cakes, and sandwiches, including an unforgettable bright green matcha tea blondie. It also brews fine coffee. Proximity to the neighboring Hawkshead Brewery makes for a couple of hours of true indulgence.

A huge range of delicious cheeses, mostly British, can be purchased in this welcoming, pungent little shop. Free tastings are often available, and you can also find their stall at the Saturday market in Keswick.

This fabulous delicatessen, famous for its award-winning sticky toffee pudding, is also a great place to purchase picnic provisions.

Based at Yew Tree Farm, the farm once owned by Beatrix Potter, Heritage Meats has a conservation-based approach to farming and sells great free-range meat. If you're staying nearby in a self-catering cottage, ring ahead to arrange to pick up some Herdwick chops or wild Lakeland game.

A butcher and delicatessen, Thomasons sells some very good meat pies—just the thing for putting in your pocket before you climb a Lakeland fell. The housemade sausages are fantastic if you're planning a barbecue.