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We have always stayed in self catering cottages and apartments, we have used Lake Lovers they have a reasonable selection in the Windermere/Ambleside area. 
A drive up the Wrynose Pass is always exciting!  Very twisty, personally I have always been the passenger with eyes shut!  It is a good route to Wastwater.  Buttermere is good photographically if the light is nice.  There is a stand of nice pine trees much beloved by camera club groups there. Beatice Potter's farm is always worth a visit as it is in a beautiful area, I think it is in Far Sawry.  Very good fish and chips in Windermere in the Little Chippy if it is still open, long time since we went there.
Can't remember how we got the cottages we stayed at in the north lakes, personally I love Ambleside and Lake Lovers have some very nice modern apartments there.

http://www.lakelovers.co.uk/  Here is the link to Lake Lovers website.

We're planning to drive to Caithness and back during the summer (from Hampshire).  To save excessively long drives we have a number of stops pencilled in.  One - not somewhere we have been but which sounds good - is Townend at Troutbeck - a National Trust property, an 18th century yeoman's house with private library.  Sounds different from most houses, and good for a rainy day.

Rhoda, you could always try a slightly different Lake District experience and spend some time in the far south west of the NP where the mountains meet the sea at Black Combe. I once (about 35 years ago) stayed on a farm at Silecroft, on the coast at the foot of Black Combe – it's an easy mountain to walk up with fantastic views from the top. Nearby is the funny little town of Millom, and there are also some prehistoric stone circles and earthworks in the hills below Black Combe, at Lacra (there's something about that name which sounds very primitive).

The main form of public transport, at least in those days, was the little coastal railway line with a station in every village. It worked like a bus service – you stood on the platform and stuck your hand out if you wanted the train to stop. We used it all the time. On one day we went up the coast to Ravenglass on the estuary of the River Esk. We couldn't swim there because of it's closeness to Sellafield, but we swam loads of times from the beach at Silecroft. From Ravenglass you can take the little narrow guage railway line up Eskdale.

Then there's always Sellafield itself a bit further up the coast– a visitor attraction in it's own right, and where everyone around there works. It's fascinating but, as you would expect, not particularly pretty.

Ooooh where to start?
SE corner: close enough to the honey pots but not close enough to be smothered by them! You could consider staying at Arnside for a night when you first get there. Lyn and I both rave about #43..... right on the water, quiet little village, OK pub across the way, lovely walks among gentle limestone countryside which should be either end of blackthorn, beginning of blubbles by then. From there head innards toward Windermere but keep to the south and west and you will come across Cartmel fell for the Mason's Arms (also good accom and food) and interesting nooks like Witherslack... lovely woodland walks - good chance of badgers in the evening! Gunners Howe is just around the corner for a steepish but short and easily doable walk with views up Windermere and out across Morecambe Bay.
NE corner: little covered but some beautiful villages and walks on heather moors and limestone pavement. A Corner of Eden is a great place to stay with a short walk across lamb strewn fields to a pub for evening grub. From there you can explore the Eden valley, sweeping down to N Yorkshire and the Ribblehead Viaduct etc, or head west across to Ullswater. Dacre was a quaint little village to stay in just west of Ullswater but cannot remember the name of the place we stayed. Signing out briefly

Back again.... don't trust the timeout!
Still up int'north along the road from Penrith west'ards, Blencathra and the villages just to the north of the 66, Threlkeld and Mungrisedale in particular have wonderful walks around the lower fells of Blencathra itself. Sharp Edge is one helluva walk but not good for the knees coming back down! Carrock Fell is gentler and nice on a fine day.
Derwentwater and Keswick are fine places for easier walks... I've oft commended them for Lake District requesters as you can basically jump on the round lake ferries and jjump off at various points, do a walk, and then jump back on again. Cat Bells is the most obvious choice, but thinking of knees, plenty of lake side stretches whcih should be in fine fettle now. The only places I tend to stay are not that far north. More down again towards Beatrix Potter's as Angela points out. If you get into Grasmere for any wild reason (I find it toooo twee) - you must and I mean must got to Sarah Nelson's gingerbread shop. Rydal Water is a nice walk from Grasmere..... fairly low level.
West of Windermere: My lake.... Esthwaite Water is one I know and love, having been working on it since 1995. A fabulous place for food is The Drunken Duck. You can stay there as well and very nice it is too. Great local beers, fantastic local produce food. The pubs around Hawkshead and Far Sawry have all been done up / changed hands recently and in my opinion have all changed for the worse. A great self catering setup in a fairly central location, with lake access and swallows in the barns (I know because I had someone staying there for six months and mithering them) is at Esthwaite Farm.
I agree with Angela's comments about the wilder westerer Lakes but I haven't been out that way for 10 years or more.... same for the extreme SW. I love Coniston, and the Bull used to be good, plus you can drive a fair way up toward the Old Man of Coniston and walk on the flat above the lake but below the fells to the west. Mmmmmm...... running out of steam now.
Hope that helps a little? Cheers, J

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone - lots to mull over now

Oh yes, forgot about the Drunken Duck.  Very good food when we went there a few years back.  We also had a good Thai meal in Ambleside but that was 2001, actually the week of the 9/11 disaster!