Keswick Webcam – Watch Skiddaw, the Town and the Lake

The Keswick Webcam brings together three live cameras around Keswick in the northern Lake District. The main camera sits on Fern Howe Guest House, high above Braithwaite, a village about 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) west of the town, and runs a slow tour of the fells around it: the broad bulk of Skiddaw, close shots of crags and bracken, and the cottages and fields of the valley floor. Two more tabs switch to the town’s pedestrian Market Square and to Derwent Water Marina at Portinscale, so the same weather shows from three places at once, often with cloud on the summits while the streets below stay dry.

About Keswick and Braithwaite

Fern Howe’s camera is a pan-tilt-zoom unit on a preset tour, so the picture moves on every few seconds and the round repeats every few minutes. Wide shots look over green fields and woodland to the fells across the valley. Zoomed shots fill the screen with a single fellside, its bracken rust red in autumn, or a pointed summit above dark conifers. One preset looks down on Braithwaite itself, over white cottages, slate roofs and rows of caravans to a wooded hill. The owners say their rooms look out to Skiddaw, Latrigg, Blencathra, Walla Crag and Catbells, and they keep 2.4 hectares (6 acres) of woodland protected for red squirrels.

Braithwaite belongs to the civil parish of Above Derwent. Coledale Beck runs through the village to join Newlands Beck, and the Whinlatter Pass road, the B5292, starts here before climbing west toward High Lorton. The Grisedale Pike ridge rises immediately west of the houses, with the smaller fell of Barrow beside the village. Skiddaw, the broad mass in the camera’s widest mountain shots, reaches 931 meters (3,054 feet) and is traditionally counted as the fourth highest peak in England. Its bedrock is Skiddaw Slate, an Ordovician mudstone and siltstone.

Keswick was granted a market charter by Edward I in 1276, and its market has run without a break ever since. The parish had 4,658 residents at the 2021 census. The Market Square camera, run for the Keswick Tourism Association, looks down the pedestrian square between shops, pubs and cafes toward a tree in the middle, with fells over the rooftops. The marina camera looks across dinghies, kayaks and moored sailing boats to the open lake and a wooded far shore.

Weather and Climate in Keswick

The Met Office averages for 1991 to 2020 come from its station in Keswick, and they explain why the fells on screen so often vanish into cloud. The town gets about 1,575 millimeters (62 inches) of rain a year, with at least 1 millimeter falling on around 178 days. December is the wettest month at 195.2 millimeters (7.7 inches), and May the driest at 81.6 millimeters (3.2 inches).

Winter is mild at valley level. January days average 7.4 C (45 F) and nights 2.0 C (36 F), so snow can whiten the summits while the fields below stay green. April reaches 12.4 C (54 F) by day and 4.4 C (40 F) at night. July is the warmest month at 19.8 C (68 F) by day and 11.6 C (53 F) at night, and long evenings keep the picture lit late. October still averages 13.5 C (56 F) by day and 6.8 C (44 F) at night, when the bracken on the fellsides turns the rust red that fills the zoomed shots.

Things to Do Near Keswick

Braithwaite is a starting point for walks onto the fells the camera watches, with the Grisedale Pike ridge climbing straight from the village. The Whinlatter Pass road climbs west to Whinlatter Forest, described as England’s only true mountain forest, with a Forestry Commission visitor center at the top of the pass and the longest purpose-built mountain bike routes in the area. The village pubs include the Coledale Inn, the Royal Oak and the Middle Ruddings Hotel.

Keswick is a short drive east. The Moot Hall stands in the Market Square, Theatre by the Lake is the town’s modern theater, and the Alhambra is one of the oldest surviving cinemas in Britain. Keswick Museum sits in Fitz Park, and the Derwent Pencil Museum remains on the old pencil works site. Castlerigg stone circle stands on the eastern fringe of the town. Derwentwater begins just south of Keswick, and Portinscale, home of the marina camera, lies between the town and Braithwaite.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

Two more posts cover Keswick and Derwentwater, one with an extra camera on Skiddaw, and a third watches boats on Windermere further south in the Lake District.

• Keswick Market Square Webcam
• Lake District Webcam
• Windermere Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Keswick Webcam located?

The main camera is at Fern Howe Guest House in Braithwaite, about 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) west of Keswick in Cumbria, north-west England, inside the Lake District National Park. The Market Square tab is in the center of Keswick, and the marina tab is at Portinscale, between the two.

What can you see on the Keswick Webcam?

The Braithwaite camera tours Skiddaw and the fells around the valley, close shots of crags and bracken, and the village’s cottages, fields and woodland. The second tab looks down Keswick’s pedestrian Market Square, and the third over Derwent Water Marina to the lake.

Can you see Keswick Market Square on this webcam?

Yes, on the second tab, which looks down the pedestrian square toward a tree in the middle. The main Braithwaite camera points at the fells rather than the town.

Can you see Skiddaw on this webcam?

Yes. Skiddaw, 931 meters (3,054 feet) high, is one of the fells the Braithwaite camera returns to on its tour, and the guest house lists it first among the views from its rooms. Low cloud often hides the summit, so a clear spell is the time to look.

How do you walk up Skiddaw from Keswick?

The tourist route starts behind Latrigg and climbs over Skiddaw Little Man to the summit. Driving to the car park at the top of Gale Road, just behind the summit of Latrigg, saves about 200 meters (660 feet) of climbing. Alfred Wainwright preferred a steeper line along Longside Edge, over Ullock Pike, Long Side and Carl Side.

What is the weather like in Keswick?

Mild and wet. January averages 7.4 C (45 F) by day and July 19.8 C (68 F), and about 1,575 millimeters (62 inches) of rain falls in a year, most heavily from October to January, so cloud on the fells is a common sight on all three cameras.

Can you see Derwentwater on this webcam?

Yes, on the third tab. The Derwent Water Marina camera at Portinscale looks across the boat yard and moorings to open water and the wooded far shore.

Is this Keswick in England or Keswick, Ontario?

This is Keswick in Cumbria, England, in the Lake District. Keswick in Ontario is a separate community in Canada, and none of these cameras show it.

Source: Fern Howe Guest House, Keswick Tourism Association and Derwent Water Marina