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Ambleside is a town and former civil parish (now in the parish of Lakes) in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Westmorland and located in the Lake District National Park, the town sits at the head of Windermere, England's largest natural lake. In 2020 it had an estimated population of 2596.

Ambleside is within the unitary authority Westmorland and Furness, and is also part of the Lakes civil parish. Ambleside was formerly a township, in 1866 Ambleside became a civil parish in its own right until it was abolished on 1 April 1974 to form Lakes. In 1961 the parish had a population of 2562. From 1894 to 1935, Ambleside formed its own urban district.

"Steamers" are the throwback name for the ferries (diesel propelled) which run most days to Bowness on Windermere and Lakeside offering fine views of the lake and the mountains – see Waterhead locality below. Ambleside is a base for hiking, mountaineering and mountain biking. It has several hotels, guest houses, restaurants and shops. Specialist shops sell equipment, guides and give recommendations to walkers, backpackers and climbers. Ambleside is a popular starting point for the Fairfield horseshoe, a hillwalking ridge hike. A concentration of ten pubs or bars within a quarter mile radius reflects how the local hospitality market serves residents, tourists, visitors and the student population associated with the University of Cumbria.

The town's name is derived from the Old Norse "Á mel sǽtr" which literally translates as "river – sandbank – summer pasture". To the south of Ambleside is the Roman fort of Galava, dating from AD 79. In 1650 the town was granted a charter to hold a market. In the reign of James II, another charter was granted for the town to collect tolls. The town's Market Place became the commercial centre for agriculture and the wool trade. The old packhorse trail between Ambleside and Grasmere was the main route between the two towns before the new turnpike road was completed in 1770. Smithy Brow at the end of the trail was where pack ponies were re shod after their journey. With the coming of the turnpikes, the packhorse trains were superseded by horse drawn stagecoaches, which regularly travelled between Keswick and Kendal via Ambleside. The Samling Hotel was built in the 1780s, then called the "Dove Nest". Ambleside & District Golf Club founded in 1903 ended in the late 1950s; Windermere Golf Club is a few miles along the lake's east side. The Armitt Library and Museum opened in 1912 in memory of Sophia and Mary Louisa Armitt is notable as a resource for history. Its main resident collection overviews Lake District artists and writers with display panels, photographs and copies of their key works, and some originals of minor works. The building was depicted by the Victorian landscapist Lewis Pinhorn Wood (1848–1918) in his late 19th century work The Cobbler's Shop on the Bridge.

The town's many decades old Catholic Church in a traditional design is a consolidation of two churches; until 2013 nearby Grasmere held services, whose reverend, Kevan Dorgan of Windermere was translated to the consolidated parish. His predecessor, who retired, was David Duanne.

The Ambleside campus of the University of Cumbria, formerly St. Martin's College and Charlotte Mason College, is at the northern end of the town; courses held at the campus include Conservation, Forestry, and Outdoor Studies. On 1 December 2009, it was announced that the Ambleside campus would be 'mothballed' at the end of July 2010, and would no longer take new undergraduate students. The closure was in the face of fierce opposition from the Ambleside students, the townspeople, and support pledged from Tim Farron, MP for the campus and its students. In July 2011, the university announced a plan to reopen the campus and increase student numbers at the Ambleside campus beginning in 2014. In September 2014, the newly refurbished campus was reopened.

Brathay Exploration Group, a youth charity, mainly meets at associated Clappersgate.

Ambleside Pier at Waterhead, about one mile south of the town centre, is a boarding point for Windermere Lake Cruises on Windermere. Services run year round connecting to Bowness on Windermere and Lakeside. Between March and October, a second service operates to the Brockhole Lake District Visitor Centre and Wray Castle. Waterhead has hotels, cafés, boat hire establishments and the YHA youth hostel. It is mostly green buffered from the town, including by copses of mature trees.

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North West and ITV Border. Television signals are received from one of the two local relay TV transmitters (Windermere and Hawkshead). Local radio stations are BBC Radio Cumbria 104.2 FM, Heart North West on 102.3 FM, Smooth Lake District on 100.8 FM, and Lake District Radio that broadcast online from its studios in Kendal. The town is served by the local newspapers, The Westmorland Gazette and North West Evening Mail.

William Wordsworth worked in Ambleside, as Distributor of Stamps for Westmorland, from 1813, while living at Rydal Mount in the nearby village of Rydal. This government position induced Shelley to write a sonnet of mild reprimand, To Wordsworth, but it gave an income other than poetry. In 1842, he became the Poet Laureate and resigned his office. "Something of a Victorian superstar," she was a professional woman, international correspondent, ran a micro farm on her property and formed and worked for a Property Association which helped working families in the neighborhood build their own homes. Her winter lectures packed the Methodist Church beside her home. The author Mairin Mitchell (1895–1986) was born at Ambleside, the daughter of Dr Thomas Houghton Mitchell, a local GP. Artist Kurt Schwitters was resident for 2 1/2 years until his death in January 1948. Under legislation to lower the risk of well covered sympathiser spies he was interned in the Isle of Man for 14 months of World War II after fleeing Nazi Germany to Norway which was invaded in 1940; his release to London was secured with A. Dorner of Rhode Island School of Design's attestation and sponsorship. Locomotive manufacturer Edward Bury (died 1858) and his wife Priscilla Susan. The poet Dorothy Gurney wrote the words to the popular wedding hymn "O Perfect Love" at Pullwyke near Ambleside.

The town maintains the Langdale & Ambleside MRT, one of the busiest volunteer mountain rescue teams nationally.

Ambleside features an oceanic climate, but being within the Lake District it does experience higher annual rainfall than the average for the North West of England. Parts of the town have been flooded on numerous occasions, with the River Rothay breaking its banks during Storm Desmond in December 2015.