If you're thinking of going on a long cycle ride (as I did), hike or anything else in the Lake District, then Cockermouth Youth Hostel is a superb starting or stopping-off point.

It is very hard to find and if you're driving, the extremely bumpy road down to the hostel is literally two metres wide.

When you get to it though, the hostel is in a beautiful setting. Right next to the river Cocker it is an old mill with the two water wheels (hence its name) still there and in tact.

The hostel gives you great and easy access to the nearby park and Cockermouth town centre itself, which seems surprising considering that you can hear absolutely nothing when you finally bed down for the night.

The hostel is never very crowded (there was no-one else at all there when I went) and it offers very good prices but you must become a member of the YHA (Youth Hostelling Associasson) to stay there with, I'll add, good self-catering facilities.

On a hot day though, the park and around the hostel can become very full of people, so you've been warned.

The beds are comfortable but they don't half squeak!