Kirkby Stephen is a civil parish and small market town in Cumbria, in North West England which historically, is part of Westmorland. The town is located on the A685, surrounded by sparsely populated hill country, and about from the nearest larger towns, Kendal and Penrith. The River Eden rises away in the peat bogs below Hugh Seat and passes by, almost unobserved, on the eastern edge of the town.