The AA Guide to the Lake District & Cumbria (Travel Guide) Paperback – 15 Mar. 2016

excellent very informative guide book

This 272-page book - the 2nd edition of March 2016 - is a convenient, concise and informative guide to the Lake District and its host county of Cumbria - the north-westernmost county of England.This book has all the usual features, with excellent maps - colourful but clear - with small, detailed maps in the body of the book for towns and cities, and several pages of larger maps gathered at the back covering the entire region. There is a single-page map of Cumbria (and its neighbouring area) at the front of the book for quick reference.The first 30-odd pages are an introduction to the counties, the next dozen are “information” pages about what to look out for when you get there, and then you have the 200 pages of the A-Z directory for the county, listing the various locations, followed by 8 pages of detailed maps in the Atlas, and then the Index.The opening introductory pages are more heavily-illustrated than the main body, but there are colour photos (or maps) illustrating at least every other double-page of the main body of the book.The A-Z directory’s entries vary in size for each location, depending on its (relative) importance - for example, Windemere (and Bowness) gets 13 pages (including photos), Carlisle gets 9 pages, Keswick gets 8 pages, Kendal gets 7, Coniston gets 6 pages, Penrith gets 5. These individual entries contain details of local interest, things to see, things to do, etc.There are two indexes (indices), one for themes - such as ancient archaeology, churches, fells, lakes & tarns, museums, food & drink, railway and wildlife attractions, etc.; and the standard one for places.Unlike, for example, the Rough Guides to Travel, there are no ‘joined up’ descriptions of localities, suggested routes or itineraries, just the alphabetic entries. However, it does depend on what sort of reference book you are looking for. If you know what you are doing, then this book will tell you just what you want to know about a location, and therefore can fit in more about those locations than if it is also joining the dots for you.The Contents are -P08: IntroductionP12: Top AttractionsP17: History of the Lake DistrictP22: Back to NatureP25: Lore of the LandP30: Literary Lakes: Rabbits, Daffodils, Cats & RoguesP33: Mining the Lakeland’s Rich Industrial HeritageP36: Wainwright’s Love Letters to the LandscapeP39: Local SpecialitiesP42: Before You GoP48: Festivals & EventsP50: CampsitesP52: A-Z of Lake District & CumbriaP255: Atlas (maps)P264-270: Index (actually two - one Themed and one for Places)

As described