Forest Side Hideaway Leads The Lakes Resurgence

FOREST Side announces its presence just outside the charming Lake District village of Grasmere very discreetly. A small sign, etched in slate and mounted on the dry stone wall at the entrance to its winding drive, merely says "Forest Side".

We finished with preserved blueberries with sorrel and goat's milk, a so refreshing bittersweet confection 

Is it a garden centre? A private house, maybe?  For the words hotel – or restaurant for that matter – are nowhere to be seen; not even at the ornate portico entrance of this stunning mid-Victorian gothic mansion set in a slightly elevated position by the side of, yes, a forest. Actually "announces" is an almighty overstatement. Forest Side kind of whispers sotto voce:  "Psst...welcome to the winner of the Tatler Restaurant Awards' Best Kept Secret". But why one of the most exciting restaurants, not just in the Lake District (where, let's face it, there's some pretty fierce competition) but in the whole of the country should be a secret of any sort, best kept or otherwise, I leave to the posh people's magazine.

Forest Side opened in February as the Lake District and Grasmere in particular was struggling to overcome the trauma of winter's torrential rain and devastating floods. Indeed the main Windermere to Keswick road by which it stands was washed away a couple of miles to the north and closed for months. The tourism business simply nosedived.

It was perhaps not the best of times to be launching a new hotel and restaurant that you've just spent 18 months and £4m on, but Andrew Wildsmith, whose other properties, Hipping Hall near Kirkby Lonsdale and The Ryebeck near Bowness-on-Windermere have won considerable acclaim, seemed unfazed. Besides, he had an ace to play.

Kevin Tickle; below, two of his dishes 

An ace in the kitchen, that is: Kevin Tickle, former sous chef and head forager at the multi-award winning, Michelin stellar L'Enclume in Cartmel, was recruited to head the brigade at Forest Side. Tickle is Cumbrian through and through; he was born in the county and has never worked anywhere else, so when he says that the food his team creates is all about a sense of place for which he is passionate and "lucky to call home", he's pretty darn qualified to make the call.

So, with gastronomy based on Tickle's inspired cooking central to Forest Side's raison d'être, one might be tempted to describe it as a restaurant with rooms – were it not for the fact that the 20 individual rooms and suites are so superbly appointed.

Bedrooms are glorious

Our suite had french windows which opened on to a first floor terrace with lovely views. The bathroom sported a walk-in drench shower. Attention to detail is jaw-dropping. All the bedrooms, designed by James Mackie, deploy luxurious materials and beds have been made by a firm in Leeds to an exclusive design for Wildsmith Hotels, each containing over 10,000 springs. The carpets throughout the hotel are made by Wools of Cumbria Carpets using the wool from local Herdwick sheep. They have been dyed in a shades created especially for Wildsmith Hotels and the entire order totalled over 2,000 fleeces – the largest single order of Herdwick wool ever placed.

We arrived at Forest Side around midday on a gloriously sunny Saturday, parked up ready to check in later and engaged in a quintessentially English touristy day, beginning with a stroll through delightful meadows to Wordsworth's beloved village of Grasmere. After buying the obligatory gingerbread and visiting the great Romantic poet's final resting place in tiny St Oswald's churchyard nearby, we hopped on an open-topped double-decker bus and rode to Ambleside's steamer quay at Waterhead. The 25-minute cruise to Bowness was idyllic, the views of the surrounding peaks stupendous. The return journey was no less spectacular.

The Forest Side sits within a delightful Victorian garden, revealed when the rampant wild rhododendrons were slashed and burned, and now replanted with aromatic species. Beyond that, chef Tickle has 48 acres of forageable grounds and 140 raised beds in the painstakingly restored kitchen garden with which to supply his daily changing menus.

The Lounge; below, the quirky bar 

 

Step inside the house and one can see the extent of the refurbishment, an uber-stylish and harmonious blend of the Victorian and the contemporary. The lounge and bar sport eye-popping wallpaper designs and sumptuous furnishings and the 50-cover dining room, now extended onto a new stone terrace outside, is a superb space. The old floor has been replaced with wide oak boards and as much as possible recycled for use on the front of the pass, room name signs and re-used for the tops of the dining tables.

This is the heart of the matter, where Tickle presents three menus "inspired by the Cumbrian landscape" - the "Grand 'Un", his ten-course tasting menu at £75 a head; the six-course "L'Al 'Un" at £60 and the "Reet L'Al 'Un – the a la carte from which we chose – priced at £50 a head with supplements for some dishes. The food was magnificent from the opening ameuses bouches to the best selection of English cheeses we'd ever encountered.

The Forest Side kitchen pass; below, thre light and airy restaurant

West Coast Langoustine brought the sweetest shellfish poached in langoustine butter with diced guanciale – home cured pork cheek – charred cucumber, mallow and cucumber broth, conifer honey and a cucumber flower. The colours were stunning and the flavours just sang. A salad of delicate duck hearts with turnip and pickled green walnut, testament to Tickle's talent at preserving seasonal delights, was lifted by that most magical of herbs, savory. 

Main course line-caught halibut, cooked sous-vide for a lovely creamy texture, came with steamed mussel, charred lettuce, wispy leeks cooked on plancha and a crowning glory of dittander dressing, giving subtle peppery, mustardy highlights. Will and Emma's Herdwick hogget "from ower yonder", a Cumbrian signature if ever there were one, fabulously rich in flavour from a sheep between one and two years old, was served with heritage potato and "hedgerow clippings" among which even this city boy recognised charred wild garlic. 

We finished with preserved blueberries with sorrel and goat's milk, a so refreshing bittersweet confection, and that wonderful cheeseboard.

After a very comfortable night breakfast was a joy:  porridge with blueberry and vanilla then soft-boiled Bannerigg duck eggs with sourdough soldiers; Earl Grey and citrus poached prunes followed by gingerbread pancakes with clotted cream and maple syrup. Brilliant...and all this less than 90 minutes from home.

Ray and Trudi King were guests of Wildsmith Hotels.