Cartmel Fell, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“A dog-friendly bar with good beer… an outstanding restaurant… and just up the road from my house!” – so says one delighted Lake District local about Kevin & Nicola Tickle’s “staggeringly good” pub, where a simpler lunchtime menu gives way at night to a ten-course offering for £120 per head. Ratings went from strength to strength here this year as a couple of diners nominated it as their best meal of the year. Kevin spent 10 years at nearby L’Enclume and was also head chef at Forest Side in Grasmere.

“Great Rogan food, but in a more relaxed setting!” (“Like L’Enclume on its day off!”) – no report has a bad word to say about the cuisine at this spin-off venue from the Lake District’s most renowned celebrity chef, which occupies the light-filled dining room – complete with floor-to-ceiling windows and skylight – of Linthwaite Hotel, overlooking Windermere. Chef Mark McCabe (the former chef-owner of The Ethicurean in Bristol) took over at the stoves here in early 2024, and reports say “you can taste the individual flavours making up each course”. One could argue for the award of 5/5 for the food-score here – our sole reservation is that no reporter nominates it as their best meal of the year, just that it was “altogether highly recommended”.

“A smart but ultra-comfortable Lakeland hotel with a stunning restaurant from ex-Fat Duck chef Ollie Bridgewater, who has really put his stamp on the menu over the last year, with cooking that is original, refined and absolutely delicious”. The venue itself is “spread over a couple of dining rooms, with well-set tables complete with white tablecloths”. This is “clever cooking” such as “gnocchi with identically shaped mousses of the local St James cheese – a remarkable dish with an intense truffled jus gras”; or “Lobster pappardelle – thin pasta with some herbs rolled in, excellent sauce and Oscietra caviar”. The menu is based around three courses with an ‘Origin’ menu for £90 per person; or a ‘Source Culinary Journey’ for £120 per person. As well as its evident gastronomic attributes, it’s also often recommended as a “romantic” destination too.