Happy New Year! We hope you enjoy reading about our offers and information for 2018.

We would also like to take this opportunity to say 'thank you' to Ted Ferguson, for all his hard work, volunteering, and good company. Ted volunteered with us for several months, and completed two summer seasons at the hostel, with lots of interesting adventures along the way. Ted is planning to work in the Alps this year, but if you visit Cumbria in the next few months then you might see him planting trees, climbing up ice, running up fells (and down again with dizzying speed), or contesting Pez to a game of Pool. Alternatively, you might hear him clinking: carabiners, clips, or glasses. Cheers Ted!

Benefits of booking direct at www.derwentwater.org

With the surge of bookings about to come in for 2018, we’d like to remind everyone of the benefits of booking direct with us at www.derwentwater.org  as opposed to other booking websites.   

Our website is the only site where you can book cheaper room rates for families with children, and it’s also the only place where you pay a lower price for under occupancy of our larger rooms, which is useful when the four and five bedded family rooms are already booked.

For organised groups of 10 or more please still ring or email us to discuss a booking.

Throughout 2018 we will continue to send early booking offers to our supporters and regular guests through the newsletter, and these will only be bookable through our website. Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you all in 2018.

Bookings now available for summer holidays All of our accommodation is now available to book right through until the end of August 2018. We usually only release beds and rooms for sale six months in advance, but there have been several enquiries for the summer holidays and so we have put July and August 2018 onto our website early. We hope this means you can plan ahead and secure your preferred dates. See the next article for details of the 5 nights for the price of 4 offer.

We’d love you to stay longer with us in 2018! Settle in, increase your chances of a sunny day, and make the most of the journey, with a brilliant 5 nights for the price of 4 offer, available throughout the Easter and Summer Holidays, subject to availability.  

To take advantage of this offer you must book before 15th March 2018.

To book this offer book online at www.derwentwater.org select a stay of five successive nights or more, and you’ll receive 20% off your booking when you enter the promo code below, equivalent to one night free of charge.  

The offer applies to private rooms and dormitory beds, but is not applicable to group bookings.

To secure your booking, you will just pay a deposit of the cost of the first night, paying the balance when you check in at the hostel.

For stays during the Easter Holiday between 30/3/18 and 15/4/18 use promo code Easter5for4

For stays during the Summer Holiday between 20/07/18 and 02/09/18 use promo code Summer5for4

We’ve had some interesting groups to stay over the past few months, including the Eden District Cubs for a Minecraft-themed weekend, and the Lake District Search and Rescue Dog Association (LDSRDA) for Christmas dinner.

The picture above shows some of the decorations for the Minecraft weekend; the reception area, and all the corridors, were completely transformed! For those of you who aren’t familiar with Minecraft, it is a video game with lots of right-angles, hence potato waffles instead of jacket potatoes for the cubs’ dinner. As well as lots of camp-craft activities, the cubs visited Honister Slate Mine, to see a real mine in action. Overall it was a great weekend, and our cardboard boxes have never been put to such good use: crisp boxes reincarnated as Minecraft characters, whoever would have guessed?!

The LDSRDA weekend was also a great success. There were several training sessions, presentations, and discussions, and it was interesting to meet some of the Association’s Norwegian and Icelandic peers. We really enjoyed cooking Christmas dinner for such hearty, appreciative appetites, but even the mountain rescue members couldn’t fully conquer the mince pie-mountain!

We are now recruiting volunteers to join us for short periods during 2018. Volunteers generally stay for 4 weeks, though longer periods are often possible. We ask volunteers to work 5 hours per day over 5 days per week, with 2 days off each week. Accommodation is provided for volunteers in a shared house in Keswick and we provide a complementary Launch Ticket to travel to and from work by boat.   

We are also able to provide 5 day work experience opportunities for young people. Hostel accommodation is provided in male or female dormitories, subject to availability, shared with guests, and we will put together a programme of work experience based on 5 hours per day, over 5 days. This experience would be ideal for anyone considering a career in catering, hospitality, tourism or the outdoors. In the past we have also had Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award participants do their residential service with us, and we are happy to discuss a suitable programme with anyone who might be interested.

If you or anyone you know would benefit from either a long term volunteering placement or a work experience week at Derwentwater Independent Hostel, then please get in touch by email to tim@derwentwater.org telling us a little about yourself, why you would like to join us, and what you hope to gain from the experience.