Temperate Rainforest in the Lake District: Where to Find It

11 November 2026

What makes it a rainforest

Temperate rainforest grows where rainfall and humidity are high and the temperature changes little through the year, Natural England says. That damp, even climate suits lichens and mosses. The habitat was once widespread in the UK because of its oceanic climate.

The RSPB's Wild Haweswater team says rainforest once covered 20% of these islands and now covers less than 1%. Around Haweswater, as across much of the Lake District, trees were cleared for shipbuilding, mining and other uses, and later to make more room for grazing sheep.

The government's temperate rainforest strategy covers the rainforests of Cornwall, Devon and Cumbria, backed by £750,000 of research and development funding.

Borrowdale National Nature Reserve

In May 2024 Natural England declared Borrowdale a National Nature Reserve, describing it as England's largest temperate rainforest. It is a 721-hectare National Trust site.

Borrowdale is the wettest inhabited place in England, and the upper end of the valley gets twice the rainfall of the lower end. Its upland woods are full of rare lichens, mosses and liverworts among ancient oaks, birches and ferns. They support redstarts, pied flycatchers, tree pipits and red squirrels, and Natural England calls the woods a stronghold for the squirrels.

The National Trust plans to make some paths more accessible. Natural England says the focus is on local people and existing visitors, without encouraging more people to come to the valley, so keep to the paths and leave the place as you find it.

Naddle Forest, Wild Haweswater

Naddle Forest, part of Wild Haweswater in the eastern Lake District, is one of the last fragments of temperate rainforest left in the Lake District, the Wild Haweswater team says. The RSPB and the landowner United Utilities are working to extend it, by planting trees and by letting them regenerate on their own.

That second part means easing the grazing pressure. Wild Haweswater says the land was overgrazed for decades by livestock and wild deer, so it keeps cattle and ponies in low numbers and uses professional deer stalkers to bring deer numbers down. Young trees are raised in the reserve's own nursery.

Winter is tree-planting season. The RSPB runs guided walks such as Meet Cumbria's Rainforest, where you can plant a tree in Celebration Wood, and tours of Naddle Forest for 10 to 20 people who want to learn about the work for professional or practical reasons, for a suggested donation. The tours are not suitable for children or dogs. In autumn, look for fungi in Naddle Forest.

There is no visitor parking at the Naddle Farm office except for pre-booked visits. The main car park is at Mardale Head, at the southern end of the reservoir.

What to look for

Look at the trees as much as for the animals: the lichens, mosses and liverworts are what make these woods rare.

In spring, redstarts, pied flycatchers and cuckoos return to the woods of the Naddle and Swindale valleys, Wild Haweswater says. Red squirrels live in both woods.