Penrith, United Kingdom Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

Once a thriving market town on the main north–south trading route, PENRITH today suffers from undue comparisons with the improbably pretty settlements of the nearby Lakes. The brisk streets, filled with no-nonsense shops and shoppers, have more in common with the towns of the North Pennines than the stone villages of south Cumbria, and even the local building materials emphasize the geographic shift. Its deep-red buildings were erected from the same rust-red sandstone used to construct Penrith Castle (daily: June–Sept 8am–9pm; Oct–May 8am–4.30pm; free) in the fourteenth … more »