Armathwaite lies in the northern reaches of the Eden Valley, the last stop on the Settle to Carlisle Railway before the line reaches its northern terminus. Like many stations along the line, its buildings are maintained in their traditional style and colours. The attractive, brightly painted signal box was restored by the Friends of the Settle to Carlisle Line in the early 1990s.
The village, which has two pubs and a shop, is located close to the point at which the River Eden emerges from a wooded gorge. Although the valley here is sadly inaccessible to the public, there is a lovely walk along the west bank of the River Eden and up into Coombs Wood that provides a view into part of it. Coombs Wood is also where you’ll find Vista by Graeme Mitcheson, one of the 10 Eden Benchmark stone sculptures that double up as seats. Far below, on the banks of the Eden, are some earlier sculptures… a set of faces, a salmon and lines from Isaac Walton’s The Compleat Angler, all carved into the red sandstone cliffs. These are thought to be the work of William Mounsey, a local scholar who walked the length of the Eden in the nineteenth century.
