Self-catering holiday cottages in the Lake District
~ Special places 'Just for Two' ~
Call us today: 01229 885007
Self-catering holiday cottages in the Lake District
~ Special places 'Just for Two' ~
Call us today: 01229 885007
We have made a list and summary - updated as of April 2024 - of restaurants, pubs, cafès and other places to eat which are within striking distance of Howe Foot. The nearest ones to our two holiday cottages are listed first. Please check opening and serving times before heading off, and also bear in mind that prices and menus can change.
The Farmer's Arms
Bar (with jukebox), cafè, craft shop and venue for creative courses and workshops rolled into one. This is the closest place to Howe Foot for food and drink - beside the A5092 on the way to Greenodd - but do check the opening times. The pub was 'rescued and revived by Grizedale Arts and the local community', re-opening in 2021. Open sandwiches are £9/£10, main courses £10-£19. Eat in or takeaway pizzas - from an outdoor wood-fired oven - are available on Thursday nights. Pizza prices range from about £10-£16. Local beers.
The Red Lion
Family-run local pub, not far from Howe Foot, serving ‘good, old fashioned pub grub’ and offering a changing range of cask ales. Menu includes Cumberland sausage in a giant Yorkshire pudding (£15.95), lamb shank (£17.50) and meat or vegetable lasagne (£14). Beer garden. At time of writing, a lunch menu is not available.
Royal Oak
Traditional local, a few minutes from Howe Foot. At time of writing, the pub is open for drinks only. Cumbrian ales may include those from Coniston and Hawkshead breweries. More information when food is back on the menu.
Bakehouse Born and Bread
Artisan bakery and cafè where you can buy bread, cakes, pies, sandwiches, sausage rolls and pastries or pop in for breakfast, brunch and lunch. Bakehouse Brekky is £14, vegan Bakehouse Brekky is £12, bacon sandwich is £6.
Crakeside Fish and Chips
The nearest chippy to Howe Foot where apart from fish and chips, you might see dishes like battered haggis, steak pie and meat and potato pie. Veggie options and English Lakes ice cream.
The Manor House
A handsome looking, family-run pub, with plenty of excellent reviews on Trip Advisor. It's located across the road from the Oxen Park cinema club. Soup and open sandwiches are included on the lunch menu while roasts are served on Sundays. Main menu offers dishes such as rump of lamb (£30), sea bass (£25), venison and pheasant pie (£19), fish and chips (£17) and hispi cabbage (£18).
White Hart
Atmospheric 17th-century inn where old photographs and farming tools adorn the walls, and flagstones are on the floor. Five beers are on handpump. Sandwiches plus ham, egg and chips (£9.95) are served at lunch while main courses in the evening take in the likes of beef lasagne, scampi and chips, five bean chilli, Cumberland sausage, grilled rump steak, gammon steak and game keepers pie, with prices going from £14.75 to £18.65. Food may be served in the bar, dining area or outside on the beer terrace. Bouth is just off the A590 between Ulverston and Newby Bridge.
Gillam's
Cosy, welcoming and traditional tearoom, with a little fire and the bonus of a specialist grocers next door (in the same family hands). Morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea are served: sandwiches, soups, toasties, scones and cakes, using vegetarian/organic produce. Vegan options too. The atmospheric grocers shop has a cast iron range, old photographs, wooden floor and old weighing scales. Organic teas and coffees sold.
World Peace Cafè
For many years Conishead Priory - on the outskirts of town - has been home to a Buddhist community, the Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre. The vegetarian cafè - an 'oasis of calm' - is located in the priory's conservatory, overlooking the south lawn. It serves soups, sandwiches, scones, cakes and traybakes. Gluten free and vegan options are available. 'Friendly, inexpensive and delicious,' said one visitor.
Fourpence Cafè and Shoppe
Hats, clocks, old fashioned radios, photographs and antique furniture may well be scattered around this cafè, and you'd be disappointed if they weren't. This is certainly a different kind of place to have breakfast, tea, coffee, sandwiches, toasted sandwiches, cakes, scones, vegetarian soups, Welsh rarebit and fresh fish chowder (‘legendary’). It’s ‘all served in a quaint, quirky and family atmosphere,’ say the owners.
Poppies Cafè and Bistro
Much liked place whose daily changing cafè menu - put up on the website - may include Poppies breakfast (£12/£16), veggie breakfast (£11/£15), crab cakes (£7) and smoked duck salad (£7). There’s a monthly changing bistro menu on Friday and Saturday which may have mains like pan fried venison (£19), veggie burger (£16.50) and Serrano wrapped haddock (£19). Theme nights - 'Reggae Night', 'Italian Night’, ‘tapas night’, 'Soul Food Night’ and so on - are held too.
Shed One
If you're looking for something really unusual and you happen to hit the right dates, then why not head for this craft gin distillery right next to the auction mart in Ulverston? It picked up silver in the ’Experience of the Year’ category at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2023 and was a winner as ‘Sustainable/Ethical Business of the Year’ at the Cumbria Food Awards 2024. Distillery tours and gin tasting are held and there’s 'Afternoon G&Tea’, with scones, finger sandwiches and sweet treats. The latter incorporate some of the botanicals used in the gin making.
The Mill
The Cask Bar, Terrace Bar and Loft Bar are the three bars - over three floors - in this former flour mill which retains a number of original features, including a big waterwheel behind glass. It's owned by Lancaster Brewery so there's a big choice of beers (about ten). A busy menu includes ‘nibbles’, ‘little ones’, ‘small plates’, ‘burgers’, ‘main plates’, ‘pies’, ‘from the grill’, ‘daily specials’ and ‘sweet stuff’. Fish and chips are £16, a chicken nacho burger is £15, minted lamb steak is £18 and mushrooms on toast £7.50.
Bay Horse Hotel
The pub/hotel overlooks the Levens Estuary, at a point where the old Ulverston Canal meets the sea. ’Over the years we have become synonymous for our cooking and indeed the food we prepare and serve is, in our eyes, the true meaning of our existence,’ say the long time owners. There’s a lunch lite bites menu, a lunch menu, an evening lite bites menu and an evening menu. Food ranges from a selection of sandwiches (£5.60-£9.50) to main courses on the evening menu such as fresh crab and salmon fishcakes (£22.50), pan-fried strips of Aberdeen Angus steak (£25) and Lakeland lamb shank (£22.50).
The Farmers
Pub, wine bar and restaurant on the main square, with an outside terrace. Breakfast, lunch and evening meals are served, with the likes of the full or veggie English (£10.95), American style pancakes (£9.95) or eggs Benedict kicking off the day. Baguettes and jacket potatoes are served at lunchtime and are about £9.95 while pizzas (lunchtime and evening) go from £15-£17. Main courses include Cajun chicken, mussels, fish and chips, Cumberland sausage and braised brisket of beef, with a price range of £15.50-£18.
Base Restaurant
A real hit with diners, this AA rosetted restaurant is located in Ford Park, below the Hoad Monument. A pre-lunch menu offers dishes such as steak and eggs (£12.95), beans on toast (£8.45) and pancake stack. Flatbreads are £10.95 each. Lunch then has a choice between ‘petit plates’ like table salad (£4) and halloumi fries, and ‘grande plates’ such as steamed Shetland mussels (£17.95) and rump steak (£18.95). Then on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings there’s a changing set menu of seven courses (£59.95 per person). On the menu might be pan roasted cod cheek, Lowick grazed lamb rump, Cumbria rump of beef, garlic confit sea trout and Torver rare breed pork chop. Evening menus are posted on the website. There’s a lunch club too, roughly once a month.
L'al Churrasco
'Proudly independent and free from corporate greed,' proclaims the website of this restaurant where the focus is on Spanish, Portuguese and Southern Mediterranean tapas. At the time of writing, the restaurant is not open for lunch but in the evening expect the likes of calamari and saffron aioli (£7.50), Cumbrian pork belly, rhubarb and tarragon salsa (£7.80), flat bread and hummus (£5.50), chorizo, infused wine and caramelised onions (£7.50) and salad and pickled artichokes (£9.30).
Broughton Village Bakery
One of the best sights in Broughton is the shop table at this much-liked bakery, laden with breads, pies, pasties, quiches, sausage rolls, cakes, scones, brownies, shortbreads and tray bakes. You can savour what you've bought in the self-service seating area next door or go into the Duddon Valley and have a picnic.
Manor Arms
Family owned pub, with an emphasis on beer rather than food. Up to eight changing real ales are on handpump which may include those from Great Corby, Barngates and Hawkshead breweries. About 180 guest ales are served every year. Log fires, pool table, old photographs of Broughton and bay windows. Limited food offering.
The Blacksmiths Arms
Enchanting old pub where the inside is much the same as it was 200 years ago. It's on CAMRA's national inventory of pubs and bars with important historic interiors. Small rooms, huge flagstones, ancient timbers, a cast iron range, open fires and a large old table in the main bar, that table reserved for drinking only. Three real ales. Lunch offers ciabatta rolls (£7.75) and salad bowls while the à la carte menu might see main courses of beer battered haddock (£15.25), confit duck leg (£17.50), sirloin steak (£22.95) and lamb Henry (£18.95). The pub is about two miles from Broughton and worth a detour, simply because you don’t see many pub interiors like this anymore.
Newfield Inn
William Wordsworth came over here from Coniston in 1804 and countless other walkers and climbers have visited this 17th century pub ever since. The inn’s not far from Walna Scar where the slate on the floor in the ‘round table bar’ was originally quarried. There’s a breakfast menu (full English and veggie breakfast are both £14, grilled Manx kipper is £7.50) while a morning menu offers bacon, sausage, fried egg, and bacon and egg sandwiches (£9-£12). A vegetarian/vegan menu mentions the likes of jacket potato with vegan chilli (£7), vegan burger (£14) and vegetable lasagne (£10.50/£15.50). Glorious countryside lies all around.
Swan Hotel & Spa
Once a 17th century coaching house at the southern end of Windermere, the Swan is now a big hotel with three different eateries: the Cafè, the Swan Inn (the pub) and the Brasserie. There's also seating outside by the River Leven. The pub menu lists nibbles, starters, sandwiches (£12/£13), flatbreads, salads (about £18), mains, burgers (£18/£19), Sunday roast and puddings. The cafè serves food from the pub alongside cakes, scones and traybakes. Meanwhile main courses in the Brasserie could include baked cod fillet (£27), vegan cassoulet (£19) and steaks (£38-£48).
The Green Housekeeper Cafè
‘Absolutely the best cafè I’ve ever been to,’ said one happy customer of this 20 seat cafè. A full English and a vegetarian breakfast are served, then there are sandwiches, soups, jacket potatoes, crumpets, toasties and filled rolls. Plus a specials board. Take a look at the ‘cafè ethos’ on the website’s home page.
Herdwicks Cafè
Just on the edge of the village as you head towards Ambleside, Herdwicks serves tea, coffee, light lunches, and 'hearty meals'. A breakfast menu (small breakfast £7.95, large one £11.85), toast and teacakes, sandwiches (£6.70-£7.35), soup, toasties, jacket potatoes (£8.95-£10.95), scones, cakes and traybakes are some of the things on the menu at this dog-friendly place.
The Black Bull
A big draw for some is the full range of Coniston Brewery Ales that are served here, two of them - Bluebird Bitter and No 9 Barley Wine - Supreme Champion Beers of Britain. The brewery is next door and in the same family ownership. The 17th century coaching inn, with Donald Campbell memorabilia on the walls, offers sandwiches (£7/£8), jacket potatoes (£8), and toasties while bigger dishes may include Cumberland sausage (£14), fish and chips, sirloin steak (£25), gammon steak and haddock fillet (£15).
The Terrace, Brantwood
Few other places to eat in the Lake District have a view quite like this, with Coniston Water below and Coniston Old Man and its family of fells beyond that. Brantwood is the former home of the great Victorian John Ruskin and it’s in his stables and coach house that The Terrace is located. Three horse stalls are still in evidence, a woodburning stove is lit on chilly days while the outside terrace offers those wonderful views. Promising ‘quirky, creative, fresh and original dishes’, The Terrace serves brunch and lunch, with cakes and scones available all day. A bacon barm (£8) and a heaped sausage hash (£13) might be on the brunch menu; toasties (£10), a lobster Mac (£14) and Korean fried chicken (£14) could be on the lunch one. Food and folk events are held occasionally.
Harry's Cafe Bar at Yew Tree Barn
‘Cafè of the Year’ at the Cumbria Food Awards 2022, Harry's is located in a huge and impressive antiques and reclamation centre. Breakfast and lunch are served, as is Sunday lunch. Dates for supper evenings in 2024 are on the website (£50). As for the normal menu, a Cumbrian or veggie breakfast is £12.50, porridge £5. The mains are more unusual for a cafè and might include hoisin-glazed smoked ham hock, sesame roasted tender stem broccoli and pickles in a steam bun (£12), peri peri spiced buttermilk fried chicken thigh, baby gem lettuce and pistachio dressing (£13) and courgette, orange, mint and fennel salad, soy toasted pumpkin seeds (£10).
Heft
A 17th century inn with a Michelin starred restaurant. It’s run by Kevin and Nicola Tickle, Kevin spending some years - previously - down the road at Simon Rogan’s L'Enclume in Cartmel. He then became the head chef at Forest Side, Grasmere where he gained a Michelin star within the first year of the hotel opening. A four course set lunch here is £45 while a ten course set dinner is £110. Between lunch and dinner you might see ‘low and slow’ beef shin, Orkney scallops, scorched monkfish, venison tartare and Stotty’s red deer.
Cavendish Arms
Former coaching inn where the old stables are now the bar, the antique furniture sitting well with the low beams and uneven floor. There's a separate restaurant. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served, with a nibbles board at £25, sandwiches at £14, and main courses like steak and ale pie (£21), roasted hake (£23), roasted pork fillet (£19), seared grey mullet (£22) and John Stott’s burger (£18).
Unsworth's Yard
Take a seat in the courtyard and enjoy something from the wine shop, Unsworth’s Yard Brewery and the specialist cheese shop which are a few feet away. Pizza nights are held in the yard on Friday and Saturday, from March-October. The Mallard Tea Shop is close by as well, offering soups, sandwiches, toasties and jacket potatoes.
L'Enclume
One of four ‘world class’ restaurants as named by the Good Food Guide, the only restaurant in the north of England to hold three Michelin stars and number one in Harden’s ‘Top 100 best UK restaurants’ 2024. Simon Rogan's L’Enclume, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2022, also has a Michelin green star, an award that highlights a restaurant's excellent sustainable practices. Dishes may include the likes of fritter of Duroc pig and smoked eel, lovage and fermented sweetcorn; Wye Valley asparagus and Cornish crab, preserved Passandra cucumber, Aynsome spring shoots; Pink Fir apple potatoes cooked in chicken fat, pickled walnut and Park House cheddar; seaweed custard, beef broth and bone marrow, L’Enclume’s blend of caviar, Maldon oysters; dry aged Herdwick lamb loin from Sea View Farm, fermented yellow beans, sauce infused with fennel vinegar. ‘Our Farm’ near Cartmel - which itself won the ‘Best Farm to Table’ award at the Good Food Guide Awards 2024 - supplies vegetables, herbs and fruit. The tasting menu, available for both lunch and dinner, is £250.
Rogan & Co
An atmospheric old building beside the pretty River Eea is the home of this Michelin starred ‘neighbourhood restaurant’, owned by Simon Rogan. It was ‘Restaurant of the Year’ at the Cumbria Food Awards 2024. Diners choose three courses, at both lunch and dinner, from a selection of seasonal starters, main courses and desserts. All at a set menu price (£79). Main courses may be Herdwick hogget, sweetbread, tender sweet carrot and black garlic; miso roasted cod, kohlrabi, creamed potato and Mylor prawn; stuffed west coast skate, leeks, winter chanterelles and fino sherry; pressed and roasted artichoke, salsify, garlic and Parkhouse cheddar.
The Hazelmere Tea House and Restaurant
Tea is the big thing here with some 50 different types of loose leaf tea offered in the cafè/restaurant. Breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea are served, with a full English breakfast at £11.95 and a vegetarian breakfast at £10.65. A cafè menu has sandwiches (£10.95), toasted sandwiches (£11.95), light plates (£11.95) and main plates (from £14.95). The latter may include steak and Cartmel Ale pie, beer battered haddock, breaded scampi and Cartmel Valley Cumberland sausage. Afternoon tea is £19.95. A bakery shop sells bread, cakes and a range of Hazelmere chutneys, jams and preserves.
Thyme Out
‘We pride ourselves in the ability to whisk you off to warmer climates with our authentic dishes,’ says this ‘Mediterranean restaurant’ in Grange. It offers cold meze dishes (most around £6.75 each), hot meze dishes (£6.95-£8.95), salads, platter boards and other dishes such as Greek lasagne (£20.15), vegetable moussaka (£18.75) and beef stifado (£20.15). There’s a takeaway menu as well.
