The Lakes are small on a map of England and large underfoot. Valleys radiate from a knot of fells. Windermere is the long lake with the towns. Wasdale, Borrowdale and Buttermere are the deeper grammar. You do not need to bag a summit to have been here. You do need to get out of the car.
Pick one valley and stay in it. Ambleside and Bowness are useful and, in summer, congested. A village base — Grasmere outside peak weeks, Rosthwaite, Coniston — changes the mornings.
See
A lake shore before a peak
Buttermere, Crummock or Ullswater. Flat paths, large views, an honest two hours.
A fell you have read the forecast for
Catbells is the classic first hill. Higher fells demand a map, not an optimism.
A town for supplies, not for the day
Keswick or Ambleside in the morning, then leave. The pencil museum can wait for a wet afternoon.
Dove Cottage or a churchyard
The poets were here and the landscape is why. The sites are small. The walks are the text.