The Lake District – that long hilly wonderland in the north, between the ballroom dancers of Blackpool and the hikers of Hadrian’s Wall – has long been a destination in its own right for walkers, outdoorsy folk and literary lovers. But now, it’s seen a flurry of food-focussed travellers planning their fell frolicking around the best places to eat. Cumbria has 13 Michelin-star restaurants – giving smart city diners a run for their money – and the most of any hot spot outside of London, so while it’s wise to pack the boots and the waterproofs you should also bring an appetite too. Here are seven of our favourites in the region.
Michelin star restaurants to try in the Lake District
L'Enclume, Cartmel
Simon Rogan’s flagship restaurant-with-rooms managed to secure its third star in 2022, almost exactly 20 years after the budding chef came up north to put British plates in the spotlight. Since then, they’ve received a Green Star for sustainability credentials too, where almost all of the restaurant’s ingredients are grown and plucked from Our Farm, Rogan’s hotbed for produce. It’s the type of place where serious eaters come from near and far to the matchbox-sized village of Cartmel for a theatrical intimate 16-course tasting menu of plant-forward feasting. Sittings might start with pig and eel fritters with fermented sweetcorn before a bigger display of celeriac roasted in yeast oil with buttermilk and smoked pike perch roe or lamb sweetbreads and ramson honey. Bring your adventurous hat.
L'Enclume, Cavendish Street, Cartmel, Grange-over-Sands LA11 6QA
The Dog and Gun Inn, Skelton
Before this wooden-beamed village pub got a fresh lick of paint and a shiny star in 2022, it was just a lovely local neighbourhood pit stop, where mucky-booted trekkers and shaggy dogs came to warm their cockles with a local ale and a daze by the fire. But since its purchase by Ben Queen-Fryer (an apt name for the head chef) and his wife Elizabeth, they set out to keep the charm of a countryside pub – a welcome break from the cleaner, slicker spots nearby – but with good hearty takes on classic grub at the forefront. Regulars return for the twice-baked Torpenhow cheese soufflé with black truffle and more pin-sharp plates of Cartmel Valley venison suet pudding with beetroot cooked in duck fat or West Coast lobster cannelloni. All chased with a dark chocolate mille feuille and some lavender shortbread.
The Dog and Gun Inn, Skelton, Penrith CA11 9SE
Heft, High Newton
When Cumbrian-born couple Kevin and Nicola Tickle – the former, trained and seasoned at L’Enclume – opened up Heft in the summer of 2021, it very quickly spread around the food world as one of the biggest openings of the year. Named after a particular fell-clinging sheep of the county, the 17th-century coaching inn turned into a serious destination for hungry travellers but more so revived the beating heart to quite a quiet village. Plates are playful and fun, where Tickle and his team add a bit of humour and city coolness to the kitchen. The menus (at lunch, four courses and dinner, 10) run through ingredients Tickle plucked from local gardens – Stone fruits from the Loxham’s, Rhubarb from the Tomlinson’s – but he also twists British staples with more far-out tastes. Oxtail and thyme custard with smoked cordyceps, curried mussels on toast, and scorched pear glazed in pine, yoghurt and ginger, to name a few. The wine list is also worth a note, featuring colour-pop labels and graphic designs more fitted to be found in an East London bottle shop than a sleepy Cumbrian village, but it works, and really well at that.
Heft, High Newton, Grange-over-Sands LA11 6JH
Forest Side, Grasmere
Filed under the category of former-hunting-lodge-turned-smart-country-house-hotel, Forest Side has raised the bar of its hospitality by also shifting the spotlight to its hyper-local restaurant. Celebrating young couples and solo high fliers, studded with a few more seasonal Cumbrians, come here for Yorkshire-born chef Paul Leonard’s lick-the-plate clean and unfussy (but delicately plated) dishes of Lake District provenance. And the seven-manned kitchen is on a mission to grow and use ingredients only found in their garden or foraged from the fells. The eight-course dinner menu might whip up last year's walnuts as a crunchy note to duck agnolotti or they might poach North Sea cod in a sauce made from Solway brown shrimp. Flavours are familiar, but equally new, and linger long after leaving.
Forest Side Hotel, Keswick Road, Grasmere, Ambleside LA22 9RN
The Samling, Windermere
The Samling manages to not only champion a seriously strong local menu but also has the best views across Lake Windermere and over the Coniston Old Man mountain range. It helps that they double down as a hotel, for when the feasting gets too much, there are 12 bedrooms to dream easily in. But the main star and the big attraction of this wind-swept corner of Cumbria is the restaurant. Like with most farm-to-fork spots around this countryside, the lakeside ingredients are put front and centre, and a lot come from their greenhouse. Head Chef Robby Jenks keeps things classic but celebrates the beauty of familiarity – asparagus with sunny yellow yolks, fall-apart monkfish with saffron, lamb with pea and mint. For dessert, it might be forced Yorkshire rhubarb when it’s in season. Pair with wine, and ask for a cellar tour if you can, if their wine list of over 600 bottles is any indication, this is a geek-out moment for oenophiles of all sorts.
The Samling, Lake Windermere, Lake District, England
The Old Stamp House, Ambleside
Deep down in the belly of an old house in Ambleside – once the office of Lakes-based word master William Wordsworth who worked here as a Distributor of Stamps – is this quirky one-star spot run by the Blackburn brothers. And their dedication and rooted love for old Cumberland flavours (now with a more modern Cumbrian flair) often found in the dappled woodlands and dramatic Irish Sea coast is as clear as day on the menu. There’s real heart and soul in the story, with history being the real driving force behind their food – Ryan Blackburn runs the kitchen and started out as a wee lad in his grandfather’s pub. Little letters on the tables – a nod to the presence of the poet – act as your cheat sheet to where the food has come from and what you can expect to eat. Herwick hogget fat scrumpets (a scone and crumpet blend), potted bay shrimps, coastal herbs atop hearty halibut, and caramelised rum gelato might pop up on the lunch tasting menu.
The Old Stamp House, Church Street, Ambleside LA22 0BU
Rogan and Co, Cartmel
Between the more white-table clothed spots often associated with the fanciful restaurants of Michelin acclaim, chef Simon Rogan (of L’Enclume) has instead put a spin on a neighbourhood bistro. Around the corner from his three-star flagship, it would seem Rogan has taken over the village of Cartmel but rather, this more relaxed restaurant manages to keep the star quality of his brand but with a bit more accessibility. Interiors keep with the Scandi cool of his bigger, more famous sister, and with a menu that still champions Lake District ingredients, there’s a real push for more intriguing combinations – whipped cod's roe nori tartlets or miso roasted cod with crunchy kohlrabi, creamed potato and St Austell mussels. It’s also slightly easier (just) to nab a reservation.
Rogan and Co, Devonshire House, Devonshire Square, Cartmel, Grange-over-Sands LA11 6QD
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