THE Lake District is the perfect antidote to the stresses and strains of modern day life.

If you could bottle the relaxing effects of the Cumbrian capital of calm you'd make a fortune. The Lakes conjure up images of hills, water, boats, tea rooms, pubs, picturesque villages, babbling brooks and, above all, walking boots, writes Neil Bonnar.

Our base was a beautiful and well equipped three-bed pine lodge cabin right on the shore of Lake Windermere in White Cross Bay Leisure Park. The site is hidden away within striking distance of Windermere, just off the A591, and offers excellent facilities for those who want to swim, play tennis, workout, sweat in the sauna or just use it as a relaxing base camp from which to watch and play with the rabbits and ducks outside your front door or visit the mass of beauty spots which attract millions of visitors to the Lakes every year.

White Cross Bay is a major attraction for sailors with its marina mooring dozens of vessels and boasting a sailing school where qualified instructors help people of all abilities out on the water.

The site offers mobile home accommodation as well as pine lodges for rent while those with plenty of money to spend and time to enjoy it can buy one of the superb lodges. Lakeside properties sell for millions of pounds so pine lodges make living on the shores of a lake in the Lake District more widely affordable. They can be used as a second home or be sub-let and managed by South Lakeland Leisure Estates to provide an income. Our long weekend offered too little time to take in as much as we would have liked but at least the notorious Lake District rain held off until 4pm each day, enabling us to enjoy Keswick and Grasmere on the Saturday and Bowness on the Sunday. Whichever town you visit in the Lake District you are guaranteed three things -- walking gear shops, Beatrix Potter outlets and a multitude of eating establishments.

Eating does not come cheap in the Lakes where the pubs, cafes and tea shops want serious money for average food. But despite the cost you are lucky to find a table at lunch time. Going Italian is a good tip as we found two excellent Italian restaurants at the heart of Keswick and Bowness where pizza or pasta with salad and garlic bread was £3.50 and two excellent courses just £4.50.

You can't go to the Lakes and fail to take in the delights of the water. So, to round off the perfect relaxing break a family can take a cruise from Bowness around the Lakes for £30 or simply hire a rowing boat for an hour for £9.

White Cross Bay is situated just off the main A591 between Windermere and Ambleside.To hire a lodge call White Cross Bay Leisure Park on 0870 7744024.

For details on purchasing a lodge call South Lakeland Leisure Estates on 0870 7744023.