Stakeley

Tucked away in the quiet moorland of the Sleddale Fells near Shap, this modest grassy rise offers a peaceful escape from the busy central lakes. Reaching its summit involves navigating the undulating, often damp ground above Wet Sleddale Reservoir, rewarding walkers with a unique perspective on the eastern fringe of the National Park.

• •Stakeley likely derives its name from the Old English 'staca', meaning a stake, and 'leah', meaning a meadow or clearing, suggesting a boundary marked out in the landscape.
• •The hill is classified as a Synge, appearing in Tim Synge’s guide to the Lakeland fells which focuses on summits over 300 metres that possess a distinct sense of height and independence.
• •The summit provides a clear outlook east across the M6 corridor toward the limestone plateau of the Orton Fells and the distant, dark silhouette of Cross Fell in the North Pennines.
• •The hill rises above Sleddale Hall, the remote farmhouse famously used as the filming location for Crow Crag in the 1987 cult film Withnail and I.
• •It is the kind of hill where you are far more likely to encounter a startled sheep or a persistent peat bog than another human being.