The Punch Bowl, Crossthwaite

Quite delightful and well worth a detour. We ate here twice, and had great food on both occasions. The highlight was probably a starter: an oxtail raviolo served on a potato cake, garnished with a bacon foam. Other dishes were less dressy, but almost as good.

For more details see their website,1 or Google Maps.2

The Langstrath Country Inn, Stonethwaite, Borrowdale

Rather a wonderful place in Borrowdale, ideal for walkers, but also worth a detour for dinner. The inn is hidden at the end of a very narrow lane off the Rossthwaite--Seatoller road.

We ate in the bar which has a warm, cosy, family feel, making both walkers and posher diners welcome. At lunch the food is good but quite basic: we had soup, welsh rarebit, and some very good local cheese.

In the evening meals get more elaborate without losing quality. We had boeuf borginonne, followed by a splendid ginger and rhubarb creme brulee. The menu spells boeuf `beef' which summarizes the place perfectly: no-nonsense English cooking with no qualms about borrowing from abroad where appropriate.

For more information see their website,3 or Google Maps.4

The Tower Bank Arms, Sawrey

A nice pub with better than average food. I had a very good pork-loin and black-pudding affair: a nice idea, decent meat, perfectly cooked. Sadly my girlfriend fared less well: her fish was both over-fussy in design and over-cooked.

For more information see their website,5 or Google Maps.6

The Brown Horse Inn, Winster

A perfectly reasonable place to eat if you happen to be nearby. I had some very decent sausages, which you can also buy from the farm shop in the pub's car park.

For more information see their website,7 or Google Maps.8