Finding a niche for our boutique hotel in the Lake District is a challenge.
Unlike places such as Keswick and Ambleside – Windermere and Bowness have a rich variety of excellent restaurants for our guests to choose from. (Three of them we have packages with- Holbeck, Gilpin and Cedar Manor where our guests get a free glass of champagne or wine)
The lake district has a huge local source of excellent food outlets – from a local artisan bakery in Staveley, Salt marsh lamb from the Cartmel peninsula, the world famous Cumberland sausage, damsons from the Lythe valley (from which we offer our guests damson gin) gingerbread, sticky toffee pudding oh……….. I could go on.
We enjoy cooking and having some very varied conversation after dinner about all sorts of topics but the challenge was finding something to tempt guests to eat in. What we offer seem to work.
The two and three course meals are taken up on a steady basis and we try to use local produce such as the eggs from our local farm, damsons for our puddings, fish from Fleetwood – tricky to buy fish from Lake Windermere …. not many trawlers! (We did offer an April fools package of a cruise from Windermere Pier, sailing down the River Kent the bay and onto the Mediterranean) – and the meat from the local village butcher.
The problem is we’re not a fully functioning country hotel with rooms and a 7 day restaurant, we are small and personal. So, we came up with the idea of homemade pies, including the pastry, fish and chips – or cold meat and local cheese platters – unusual for a boutique hotel. People are not that hungry after travelling from London or Devon or arriving from the States so something like a pie or a platter is just enough. Coming down off the hills what better than fish and chips with a glass of beer or wine!