Ennerdale Water – The Real Location Behind The Lake
Ennerdale Water is a real lake in west Cumbria, the most remote of the English lakes, and the setting for The Lake, book 5 in the Cumbria Crime series I write with Joel Hames. Here's why we chose it, and what I found there.
I know what you're thinking.
The series is called Cumbria Crime. It's set in the Lake District. And it took five books before anyone was murdered next to an actual lake.
In my defence, Cumbria has a lot going on beyond its famous lakes. There are mountains, coast, old mining towns, fell farms, ancient stone circles, and any number of dark and moody locations where a crime writer can get very enthusiastic about all the wrong things.
But by the time Joel and I were planning book five, we both agreed: it was time for a lake.
Not just any lake, though. We chose Ennerdale Water, and if you haven't been, I'd strongly encourage you to put it on your list.
Where is Ennerdale Water?
Ennerdale is the most remote of the English lakes. There's no road around it. The eastern end is accessible only on foot or by bike, and the whole valley has a wildness to it that the more popular lakes (Windermere, Grasmere, Ullswater) simply can't match, mainly because they have car parks and tea shops and people taking photos on the bridges.
What is there at Ennerdale?
Ennerdale has none of that. It has forest, and fells, and silence, and birds of prey if you're patient, and at the western end, a small cluster of buildings where you might find another human.
It also has an abandoned lakeside pub.
This is not something I was expecting to find. But there it sits, empty windows facing the water, the kind of place that immediately makes a crime writer think: yes. Here.
The body in The Lake is found in the car park of that abandoned pub. Which is already not a great start for the victim, though Zoe and her team do their best to understand what brought them there.
Why Ennerdale works as a crime setting
What I love about Ennerdale as a crime setting is that its remoteness means witnesses are rare. Everyone who's there has made a deliberate effort to be there. The casual tourist doesn't accidentally end up at Ennerdale. Which means if anyone saw anything, they either have a very good reason for being there, or a very good reason for not wanting to say so.
I got a bit wet on my research trip, obviously. This is Cumbria.
But I came back very glad we'd chosen Ennerdale, and very glad that the abandoned pub exists.
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New to the series? Start with The Harbour, or get the prequel novella The Castle free.
