Page 261 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

Eating & Sleeping

Bowness-on-Windermere 1 Keswick 5
4 Cranleigh Hotel £££ 4 Howe Keld B&B ££
(%015394-43293; www.thecranleigh.com; (%017687-72417; www.howekeld.co.uk; 5-7 The
Kendal Rd, Bowness-on-Windermere; d £119-189, Heads; s £60-85, d £112-130; pW) This gold-
ste £305-515; pW) This guesthouse has standard B&B pulls out all the stops: goose-down
gone all out on the decor, but strip away the duvets, slate-floored bathrooms, chic colours
snazziness and it’s still just a B&B. It’s worth and locally made furniture. The best rooms have
bumping up to the superior for the spacious views across Crow Park and the golf course,
bathrooms or maybe blowing the budget on one and the breakfast is a pick-and-mix delight. Free
of the two over-the-top suites (check out the parking is available on The Heads if there’s space. GREAT BRITAIN 18 CLASSIC LAKES
Sanctuary, complete with Bose stereo, glass
bath and picture-fireplace).
Coniston b
Ambleside 2 4 Bank Ground Farm B&B ££
(%015394-41264; www.bankground.com;
5 Lake Road Kitchen Bistro £££ East of the Lake; d from £90; p) This lakeside
(%015394-22012; www.lakeroadkitchen.co.uk; farmhouse has literary cachet: Arthur Ransome
Lake Rd; 5-/8-course tasting menu £50/80; used it as the model for Holly Howe Farm in
h6-9.30pm Wed-Sun) This much-lauded new Swallows and Amazons. Parts of the house date
bistro has brought some dazzle to Ambleside’s back to the 15th century, so the rooms are snug.
dining scene. Its Noma-trained head chef Some have sleigh beds, others exposed beams.
James Cross explores the ‘food of the north’, The tearoom is a beauty too, and there are
and his multicourse tasting menus are chock cottages for longer stays. Two-night minimum.
full of locally sourced, seasonal and foraged
ingredients, from shore-sourced seaweed to
forest-picked mushrooms. Presentation is Hawkshead c
impeccable, flavours are experimental, and
the Scandi-inspired decor is just so. A meal not 5 Drunken Duck Pub Food £££
to miss. (%015394-36347; www.drunkenduckinn.co.uk;
Barngates; lunch mains £7-12, dinner mains £22;
hnoon-2pm & 6-10pm; pW) Long one of the
Grasmere 4 Lakes’ premier dining destinations, the Drunken
Duck blends historic pub and fine-dining
4 How Foot Lodge B&B ££ restaurant. On a wooded crossroads on the top
(%015394-35366; www.howfootlodge.co.uk; of Hawkshead Hill, it’s renowned for its luxurious
Town End; d £76-85; p) Just a stroll from food and home-brewed ales, and the flagstones
Dove Cottage, this stone house has six rooms and sporting prints conjure a convincing country
finished in fawns and beiges; the nicest are the atmosphere. Book well ahead for dinner or take
deluxe doubles, one with a sun terrace and the your chances at lunchtime.
other with a private sitting room. Rates are an If you fancy staying, you’ll find the rooms
absolute bargain considering the location. (£105 to £325) are just as fancy as the food. The
pub’s tricky to find: drive along the B5286 from
Hawkshead towards Ambleside and look out for
the brown signs.

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