DECADES ago in a land of tie-dye and loon pants and ‘talking about my generation’ a young married couple shared their first UK holiday together. Unable to drive, they took a coach to Cockermouth and a taxi to Loweswater in the Western Lakes. Rose Cottage, where they stayed, is still there, an upmarket rental with majestic views. Then it was a rustic hovel, which made Crow Crag in Withnail and I seem like The Ritz. The local pubs, a trek away, served little more than pork pies and toasties, so the pair mostly lived off the stash of provisions, unrefrigerated, they had bought with them.

A millefeuille of tatin-style local apples, apple curd, feuille de brick pastry and marigold covered in a thick custard laced with Calvados. Bravo!

And so to their last day and the remnants of a spag bol. A colander spillage and it was dumped on the less than spotless kitchen flags. Rescued, it tasted suspiciously gritty, but there was no alternative as outside a drizzly dusk descended on the fells.

A far cry from today’s Cumbria, which boasts a tally of 13 Michelin-starred establishments and some seriously sybaritic lodgings. Witness our last visit (yes, we are still together) to the gloriously refurbished Langdale Chase Hotel on Windermere.

Schelly Ryan Blackburn Phil Rigby — **Ryan Blackburn flies the flag for fine Lakes produce** Phil Rigby

It gave us the taste for a further trip north that would involve Michelin dining, a seriously good casual alternative, red squirrels for breakfast and a return to Loweswater en route for one of the Lake District’s great (level) walks.

First stop was at the top end of Windermere, where Ambleside provides ample retail opportunities for outdoor types and is also home to two Michelin-starred establishments – the Lake Road Kitchen and The Old Stamp House – priced accordingly.

James Cross’s Lake Road tasting menus range from £75 for five courses to £165 for 12, while chef patron rival Ryan Blackburn at the Stamp House offers a 10-course ‘Journey Around Cumbria’ dinner for £95.

Schelly Exterior — **The Schelly was a Greggs outlet in a former life** Confidentials

Schelly Interior — **It boasts a smart interior to match some exquisite food** Schelly

The same devotion to the provenance of his native Cumbria is evident in Ryan’s new project – our lunchtime stop-off. The Schelly is a small plates, casual dining spot called Schelly after a rare freshwater fish found only in Ullswater and three smaller lakes.

Seating just 30, it sits directly above The Old Stamp House on a sloping site. While the latter basks in having once been the office of Romantic poet William Wordsworth in his ‘day job’ as Westmorland Distributor of Stamps, Schelly’s own earlier incarnation was as a Greggs. You’d never have guessed. Ryan and brother Craig have created a sharp, contemporary venue alternative to the surrounding chintzy tea-rooms.

Still, fear not if a mass-produced vegan sausage roll remains your chosen reward after tramping the fells. You’ll find a Greggs branch around the corner on Market Cross among the emporia flogging Norwegian socks and hiking poles.

Schelly Tomato Bread Crab — **The freshest crab tops The Schelly's tomato bread** Schelly

Schelly Mushrooms — **The mushroom special was a lunchtime delight** Confidentials

A much more satisfying reward for your Lakes exertions would be sharing a few plates from The Schelly’s menu – a simpler version of the Stamp House fare, benefiting from that quality Cumbrian sourcing and a canny wine list.

it would be easy just to go tapas style with a plate of Bellota de Iberico ham and tomato and crab toast, but we ordered the ‘more cooked’ likes of a pudding of Yew Tree Herdwick hogget shoulder with a mint and anchovy salad (£16) and Dallam fallow deer loin, hispi cabbage, Madeira sauce (£24). Things of beauty both. And who could resist a side of ‘mushrooms found in the woods around Ambleside’ (£11)?

Schelly Hogget — **Slow cooked Yew Tree hogget makes an exceptional pudding** Confidentials

Schelly Venison — **Dallam fallow deer loin cooked rare, as it should be** The Schelly

There’s affordable house wine, Gruner Veltliner maybe or Zweigelt by the carafe, handy if like us you were driving. Our destination? Another Michelin destination that has defined itself outside the traditional Lakes parameters of country house hotel. This is The Cottage in The Wood, 20 miles north of Windermere on the ridge of Whinlatter Forest.

It wasn’t our first time staying at The Cottage. We road-tested it two decades ago just after Liam and Kath Berney had transformed what had been a 17th century drovers’ inn into a restaurant with rooms. Slate roofs and whitewashed walls are classic Lakeland. Even today you can imagine the pack horses straining up (the appropriately named) Magic Hill 1,000ft above sea level towards the Whinlatter Pass through what is described as England’s only mountain forest, home to one of the few remaining colonies of red squirrels.

Cottage In The Forest — **The Cottage In The Wood is surrounded by forest** CITW

Cottage Beth And Jack — **Jack and Beth Bond are the new brooms at the Michelin-starred establishment** CITW

Confession: the chance of communing with the squirrels was a draw almost up there with the chance to taste chef Jack Bond’s Michelin starred food. After a series of exceptional chefs upped the Cottage’s game it finally gained a star in 2019. Jack and his leading sommelier wife Beth retained the star before taking on the business from the retiring Berneys this year. Quite a year, too, with the arrival of a young Bond.

None of this upheaval was evident in the smoothest of hospitality operations. The couple may have big plans for the future but at the moment it’s a case of why fix it?

Cottage Room — **Our bedroom is cosy and quietly luxurious** Confidentials

Cottage Cosy Woodburner — **A woodburner is welcome as the autumn nights get chillier** Confidentials

There are nine contemporary bedrooms. Those, like ours, in the main house are compact but beautifully appointed with ultra comfortable beds and powerful showers. Downstairs there is no bar, just two lounges with a log burner. Outside, for summer, there’s a steep, lush garden and a terrace with feeding boxes to attract the promised red squirrels.

And at night, so high up, there are stars aplenty to gaze up at.

Cottage View Irth Squirrel Bait — **The feed boxes on the panoramic terrace are designed to attract squirrels** CITW

Cottage At Night — **The Cottage by night is a welcoming refuge** CITW

All of this is very cosseting, but the food is the major reason folk make the journey. Jack Bond’s CV is impressive. Places he has worked include Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Claridge’s, and The Berkeley and New York’s Eleven Madison Park, all of which explain the precision of his cooking. Beth has also been front of house in some serious places, before the move up in 2023 at Apricity in Mayfair. She has recruited her current back-up well. Restaurant manager Joel Pennington knows his wine. On his recommendation we chose a Blaufränkisch ‘Heideboden’, Preisinger from Austria’s Burgenland. A terrific wine for £62 a bottle. Next time we will do the pairings.

Cottage Dining Room — **The dining room fit for a Michelin menu** CITW

Cottage Apple Marigold — **That marigold millefeuille is a showstopping dessert** Confidentials

Cottage Potato Lobster — **Exquisite presentation of a lobster potato dish** Confidentials

In the evening there’s a seven course tasting menu for £120 with a lighter five courser for £75 at lunchtime. I love the fact they have separate dinner menus that rotate to encourage two night stays.

The one we had didn’t put a foot wrong from a first course that topped beef tartare with ratte potatoes and a deconstructed pickled egg to a final dessert new on the menu that was as good as any pud I’ve had in months. It was a millefeuille of tatin-style local apples, apple curd, feuille de brick pastry and marigold covered in a thick custard laced with Calvados. Bravo!

In between there was exemplary pumpkin bread paired with fermented honey, the freshest of mackerel with radish and mint, celeriac agnolotti with hazelnut, an extraordinary lobster dish with potato and peppercorns that felt very Ramsay and lamb, Herdwick naturally, marjoram-scented with hen of the wood that trumpeted autumn. Fig, pistachio, nasturtium wasn’t far behind the millefeuille either.

Breakfast next morning turned into an episode of ‘Squirrel Watch’ from behind the dining room’s big picture windows. With the promise of a sighting the previous day we’d taken a walking trail up the road at The Whinlatter Forest Visitors Centre. No sign and the raw gashes in the landscape caused by commercial conifer felling were unpleasing. Redemption came at the Cottage with brief close-ups of a couple of the rare little creatures before they scuttled off into the autumn foliage. Britain has only 287,000 left, heavily outnumbered by their grey cousins.

Cottage Action Squirrel — **You have to snatch a shot of a squirrel before it disappears into the trees** Confidentials

Their appearance added a glow to the whole day as we drove off over the Whinlatter Pass, not one of the Lakes’ more fearsome rollercoaster rides. Sun high in the sky, it was a perfect off-season window to take in The Lakes’ quieter western reaches. Buttermere, in particular, is amazing with peaks sweeping down to the shoreline. We parked up in the village and walked anti-clockwise around it. A gentle trek of just over four miles that has a Zen-like quality to it.

Cottage Buttermere — **The mountains loom over gentle Buttermere** Confidentials

Cottage Kirkstile — **The Kirkstile Inn brews its own excellent ales** Confidentials

After which it was back down the valley… and memory lane. Not ‘Return To Rose Cottage’. Instead we slaked our thirst with a pint of Loweswater Gold at that village’s excellent Kirkstile Inn. Their beers are brewed out back at a hostelry that has come a long way since the Seventies (en suite rooms from £150, a four poster for £170). Everyone else across its warren of public rooms seemed to be eating lunch. Hearty Cumbrian fare. The Lakes does cater for more than Michelin appetites.

Cottage Bull — **Chilling by Buttermere with some seriously pointy horns** Confidentials

Fact file

Neil Sowerby stayed around The Cottage In The Wood, Magic Hill, Braithwaite, Keswick CA12 5TW. Rooms are available Wednesday to Saturday for dinner bed and breakfast. Book here. For lunch (Thursday to Saturday) or dinner only (Wednesday to Saturday) book here.

The Schelly is open Wednesday to Saturday 12pm to 2pm for lunch and from 5.30pm to 9pm for evening service. There are a few walk-ins but I'd recommend booking via their website.

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