The best hotels in the Lake District
Brilliant hotels in the Lake District are relatively few and far between – which makes the destination all the more of an adventure, and this list all the more valuable. A trip to the Lakes is all about walking, swimming and these days, eating. From one of the most-talked-about restaurants in the country with bedrooms upstairs, to an action-packed hotel perfect for families; these are the only Lake District hotels you need to have on your radar.
- hotel
Langdale Chase, Windermere
Putter across Windermere on the Bowness-to-Ambleside launch and you’ll spot Langdale Chase as you approach the north shore, its gables and turrets angled towards the tawny flanks of the Langdale Pikes. The Lake District are full of Victorian fantasies; this one was built by the widow of a Manchester businessman, Edna Howarth, in 1890. Recently it was acquired by brewery Daniel Thwaites, which spent a year remodelling the villa, taking it back to the feel of a private home, brightening up the drawing rooms and adding bold Arts and Crafty carpet designs and an arboreal mural that unfurls around the hall. The fellside bedrooms are all very well, but you want a lakeside one. While the design plays it safe – floral motifs, tweeds, shipshape blues and greens – rooms are all spacious, particularly my corner Wray Castle Suite with a sitting room for additional window views (binoculars are provided), though most covetable is the Langdale Pikes one with its octagonal turret lounge.
The hotel is more easy-going than many in the area, with restaurant menus that can be taken anywhere – dine in the bar, if you wish, though that has its own line-up: lobster roll with Morecambe Bay shrimps, perhaps. Afternoon tea is quite the event, thanks to Brazilian pastry chef Camila Ramaciotti’s inventive creations. Rick Jordan
Address: Ambleside Road, Ecclerigg, Windermere LA23 1LW
Price: Rooms from around £370 per night
L'Enclume, Cartmel
One of the most famous restaurants in the UK has bedrooms too – dotted around the pretty village of Cartmel. Chef Simon Rogan arrived in the village in 2002, taking over a 13th century blacksmith’s and turning it into the restaurant which twenty years later won its third Michelin star as well as a Green star too. These days there are 16 bedrooms – all named after plants and herbs (Juniper, Marigold…) grown on the restaurant farm. Rooms are simple and tasteful, in a colour palette inspired by the moors; but the tasting menu is the standout attraction and when you book a bedroom you’re guaranteed a table, both at L’Enclume and at Rogan and Co for breakfast. After 15 exquisite courses you’ll be surprised how ready for the chef’s Full English with devilled eggs the next morning.
Address: Cavendish St, Cartmel, Grange-over-Sands LA11 6QA
Price: Rooms from around £270 per night
- Jake Eastham
Rothay Manor, Ambleside
This white Regency villa with its pretty wrought-iron balconies is only actually a 10-minute amble into Ambleside (and Lake Windermere in the other direction). Although it’s been a hotel for nearly 100 years the interiors have been brought up to date by current owners husband-and-wife Jamie and Jenna with bold-green wood panelling and rust-coloured velvet scalloped headboards in the bedrooms. Downstairs, dinner is an event with seasonal dishes of pan-roasted halibut with leeks, or hand-shaped Garganelli pasta and mussels Mariniere. It’s also a destination for afternoon tea (as of course is Ambleside). A thoroughly modern place to stay with all the comfort of a stately pile.
Address: Borrans Rd, Ambleside LA22 0EH
Price: Rooms from around £230 per night
- Jake Eastham
Victorian House, Grasmere
Owner Serena von der Heyde is behind the under-the-radar Georgian Hotel in Pimlico and this Grasmere guest house was her first foray out of London in 2019. Probably best billed as a bed and breakfast, but better – it’s a long way from some of the stiffer Lake District stays. Bedrooms are smart, in mossy shades of green, and kitted out with Victorian vintage finds. One sweet shepherd’s hut room is cleverly attached to the cottage to enable access to a proper bathroom. And the restaurant does cater for more than just breakfast with excellent cheese and charcuterie boards, and a few homemade hearty dishes available in the evening for those not venturing out. In the morning breakfasts of mushrooms on sourdough or overnight oats set visitors on their way to Rydal Mount Wordsworth’s home and gardens, or a hike up Helm Cragg. Victorian House is a lovely low-key addition to the Lake District hotel scene.
Address: Broadgate, Grasmere, Ambleside LA22 9TA
Price: Rooms from around £106 per night
- Steven Barber
The Hare and Hounds Inn, Bowland Bridge
This 17th-Century coaching inn in the south west of the lakes, three miles from Windermere, is run by two great friends. One, Andrew Black, is the former publisher of Wallpaper magazine and so knows a thing or two about design. And the other, Simon Rayner-Langmead, is a publicist so knows a thing or two about spreading the word. Pub interiors are all about stone walls and flagstone floors, but there’s also a subtly placed Tracy Emin self portrait among the Lakeland scenes. Four unpretentious rooms upstairs are filled with vintage furniture and freshly-picked posies. And downstairs the pub menu is just what walkers need after a long day exploring. Steak and ale pies arrive steaming, and beer-batter haddock fillets come with house-made tartare and curry sauce. A well-priced insider spot to rest your head.
Address: Bowland Bridge, Grange-over-Sands LA11 6NN
Price: Rooms from around £113 per night
Another Place, Ullswater
This family friendly hotel comes from the same team as Cornwall’s wildly popular Watergate Bay. But things in Ullswater are just a little more under the radar, and in the best possible way. The rambling Georgian house sits on the edge of Ullswater amid 18-hectares of land with a glossy but tasteful extension housing a glass-fronted pool with views straight onto the lake and rolling hills. Activities scrawled on a blackboard daily include paddle-boarding, cold-water swimming, kayaking and sailing. And there’s also a kids club and little spa with treatment rooms and an outdoor hot tub. One of the biggest hotels in the Lakes, it still has style and charm by the bucket load.
Address: Lake District National Park, Another Place The Lake, Ullswater, Watermillock CA11 0LP
Price: Rooms from around £295 per night
The Black Bull, Sedbergh
It’s a pub with rooms, but with rooms that don’t feel like they’re above a pub at all. Inspiration comes from owners James Ratcliffe and Nina Matsunaga respective Yorkshire Dales and Japanese roots. Original features are celebrated downstairs in the bar, but in the bedrooms and dining room things are calm and uncluttered with clean wood panelling on the walls and industrial lighting. There are Asian influences on the menu too, perhaps crispy Mansergh Hall pork with spiced Korean mayo or Lindisfarne oysters with a ponzu mignonette; though Monday night is pie night where a hearty beef pie is served with the traditional seasoned greens and mash. An entirely unpretentious pub (the pub garden with views of the fells is also worth a mention in the warmer months) that is full of locals as well as visiting overnighters.
Address: 44 Main St, Sedbergh LA10 5BL
Price: Rooms from around £129 per night
The Drunken Duck Inn, near Ambleside
The pull for most guests is the food. The menu is bold and full of flavours such as curry potato pie with dhal, brinjal pickle and a carrot and onion bhaji, or a mussel chowder with hunks of sourdough. Plus, the puddings that you’d expect from a good pub such as sticky toffee and a rhubarb crumble with custard. The pub is in a fairly isolated spot, but just two and a half miles from Ambleside which is worth a visit for beautiful fragrance store Bath House and wonderful deli Rattle Ghyll. The rooms are small and fairly perfectionary but this is a great spot from which to explore Lake Windermere and beautiful Tarn Hows as well as for more vigorous hikes up Black Crag behind the pub.
Address: Barngates, Ambleside LA22 0NG
Price: Rooms from around £160 per night