Harden's survey result
Summary
“As a certain tyre company might say, worth a journey!” – Ryan & Craig Blackburn’s “hidden gem” in the Lake District provides “award-winning dining in a former Post Office” (where a certain William Wordsworth was once the local stamp distributor) and their eight-course tasting menu for £105 per person is some of “the best value fine dining to be encountered in the UK with an unfussy, relaxed ambience” to match. Its six-course lunch menu for £65 helps also make it “a brilliant local” too. Top Menu Tip – “The rabbit cannelloni is good, the steamed halibut superb, the hogget full of flavour and the rhubarb dessert delicious”.
Summary
“The Lake District is not short of good places to eat at, but this stands out in an area of brilliant restaurants!” – so say fans of Ryan (chef) and Craig (manager) Blackburn’s well-established destination located in the former office of poet William Wordsworth from the days when he was the local stamp distributor. The main event in the evening is the ‘Journey around Cumbria’ tasting menu with eight courses for £95 per person: “superb food that thoroughly deserves its Michelin star” all delivered by “knowledgeable and warm” service. Top Tip – “priced at £55, it’s very good value for lunch: rabbit cannelloni is good, the steamed halibut superb, the hogget full of flavour and the rhubarb dessert delicious”.
Summary
Ryan Blackburn and general manager brother Craig’s decade-old venture – the poet Wordsworth’s office when he was the local stamp distributor – is a truly “first-class” affair; the “cellar-type interior gives a cosy atmosphere”, while the “unique” tasting menu of locally sourced food (acclaimed by the tyre men since 2019) is abetted by staff who take “evident pleasure” in their work. Is it cheap? Well, “a full-blown evening tasting menu at £95 per person seems really quite reasonable” to one reporter… “anyway, it raised the bar for cooking in Cumbria for me”.
Summary
“A delicious plated journey around Cumbria’s fields, lakes, woods, coast and fells – sublime from the off” and “smashing it out of the park as always”. Chef Ryan Blackburn and his general manager brother Craig opened their 28-seater to wide acclaim in 2014, and it’s now performing “better than ever”. “We’ve loved this restaurant for years for its inventive local food and its unexpectedly tiny and cosy interior, down some hidden steps”. The historic building was once William Wordsworth’s office, in his sinecure as distributor of stamps for Westmoreland.
For 34 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. In a typical year, diners submit over 50,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK. Each year, the guide is re-written from scratch based on this survey (although for the 2021 edition, reviews are little changed from 2020 as no survey could run for that year).
Have you eaten at Old Stamp House?
Church St, Ambleside, LA22 0BU
Restaurant details
Prices
| Availability | 2 courses | 3 courses |  |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lunch | £65.00 |  |
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| Dinner | £105.00 | |
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Traditional European menu
| Pudding |
|---|
| £15.00 |
| Drinks |
|
|---|---|
| Wine per bottle | £28.00 |
| Filter Coffee | £5.00 |
| Extras |
|
|---|---|
| Service | 10.00% |
Church St, Ambleside, LA22 0BU
Opening hours
| Monday | CLOSED |
| Tuesday | CLOSED |
| Wednesday | 6 pm‑9 pm |
| Thursday | 12:30 pm‑1:30 pm, 6 pm‑9 pm |
| Friday | 12:30 pm‑1:30 pm, 6 pm‑9 pm |
| Saturday | 12:30 pm‑1:30 pm, 6 pm‑9 pm |
| Sunday | CLOSED |
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