Escape to the Lakes Books in Order

Escape to the Lakes transports readers from the Yorkshire coast and Wolds to the dramatic fells and glittering waters of the Lake District, focusing on the fictional Willowdale Hall estate on the shores of Derwent Water. The series draws on Jessica Redland's own love of the area and years of holidays spent walking its paths and cruising its lakes.

The first book, The Start of Something Wonderful, follows Autumn Laine, an illustrator who has lost both her grandad and her job in quick succession. Time with her parents in Paris does not bring the creative spark back, so when long term penpal Rosie invites her to stay in the lakeside village of Willowdale, she grabs the chance. There she finds a community clustered around Willowdale Hall, lake jetties and village businesses, and meets Dane, a man who has also escaped to the Lakes to nurse his own wounds. The story traces Autumn's journey from burnout to renewed purpose and the tentative steps she takes toward love.

A Breath of Fresh Air moves Rosie into centre stage. She manages the riding stables on the Willowdale Hall estate and shares a cottage with her mother, whose life has been shaped by trauma and anxiety. Rosie is fiercely loyal to both the horses and her mum, yet quietly wonders what might have been if her father had been around and if she had ever found someone for herself. When estate owner Hubert Cranleigh falls ill and his son Oliver returns to take charge, old friendship and old hurts resurface. Decisions about the future of the Hall collide with questions about identity, family and what home really means.

In The Best is Yet to Come, former teacher Emma looks forward to a new chapter helping her fiancé Grayson run one of Beatrix Potter's former farms. She dreams of creating an alpaca walking business alongside his plans, only to discover that working together under pressure exposes cracks she did not expect. When that dream collapses, she finds a welcome at Willowdale Hall, but new work, a prickly groundskeeper partner and shifting family dynamics leave her wondering whether she has bitten off more than she can chew.

Sunshine After the Rain focuses on Mel, who has spent seven years living far from the Lakes and avoiding the places and people tied to a devastating loss. A family celebration reluctantly brings her back to Willowdale, where she plans to make a brief appearance and leave again. Instead she finds herself drawn into a job at Willowdale Hall, reconnecting with old friends and facing the unresolved feelings she still carries for the man she once loved. The book leans into the idea that healing is rarely quick or simple, but small, steady steps can eventually bring you back into the light.

Each Escape to the Lakes novel stands alone, yet together they build a richly peopled world of boat jetties, stables, woodland walks and lakeside cottages. Readers who enjoy emotional journeys, complicated families and the sense that a landscape can be a character in its own right will find plenty to sink into at Willowdale Hall.