Middle Top

Getting to Middle Top means a proper walk up from the valleys around Carlisle, but the effort pays off once you're up there. It's a moorland peak that rewards walkers with views across the Eden Valley - nothing dramatic or Alpine, just honest Cumbrian fell country with space and quiet. The actual summit is modest, no dramatic rocky outcrop or cairn to speak of, but that's rather the point. You get the sense of having earned your vantage point without the crowds you'd find further west in the Lake District proper.

Walkers will find this the real draw. It's the sort of place where families with decent boots and stamina might spend two to three hours on a round trip, depending on the route taken. The terrain is moorland underfoot - boggy in places after rain, so waterproof walking boots aren't optional. Most people head out from nearby villages and paths rather than a formal car park, which keeps things wonderfully undeveloped.

It works brilliantly as part of a wider moorland walk rather than a destination in itself. If you're based at High Hall Farm Campsite or Drybeck Farm - both highly rated spots just a few miles south - you've got access to good fell walking without heading into the more commercialised peaks. Go early morning for the clearest views, and on a midweek day in late spring or autumn when the weather's settled. It's not a tick-box attraction, more a proper fell walk for people who actually enjoy being on the hills.