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Friday 13 April 2012

Lake District - the perfect baby-free weekend away!

I just got back from an amazing baby-free (the Baby was with the grandparents...) weekend in the Lake District.
We stayed at the Gilpin Lodge near Lake Windermere (http://www.gilpinlodge.co.uk/index.cfm). The Gilpin Lodge is a very nice and luxurious hotel (no babies allowed so there is no risk that you get woken up by somebody else's baby either!). However, particularly nice is the Lake House which is a 5 minute drive away from the main hotel, on its own private lake. It used to be the hotel owners' house and was transformed into a six suits boutique hotel only 1 1/2 years ago. Unlike the main hotel, the Lake House has an indoor swimming pool, a sauna and an outside hot tub.

The garden at the Lake House
View from our room































We had breakfast at the Lake House, in a beautiful light conservatory, and after a pleasant walk in the forest and fields surrounding the Lake House came back to delicious afternoon tea served in the sitting room overlooking the lake. For dinner, we were collected by car and taken to the main hotel. One night we had dinner at the Old Brown Horse, a very cosy pub with excellent food (amazing venison) a 5 minute drive from the Lake House.

The best food of the weekend, however, we had at Michelin stared L'Enclume in Cartmel (http://www.lenclume.co.uk/index.html) where we stopped for a 8 course lunch on the way to Lake Windermere. In an idyllic river side location, Simon Rogan creates stunning dishes all made from ingredients which he sources locally. The restaurant is very cosy, decorated in an informal Scandinavian style. The presentation of the dishes is absolutely beautiful and very imaginative and the taste mind blowing. My favourite dish was "Oysters pebbles" which were macaroons made out of and filled with Oyster sauce presented on a bed of pebbles. Incredible was also the "Mallow with bay shrimp" which was served in a white little "paper bag" made out of porcelain. Absolutely delicious was the tartar of "Valley venison, shallots, mustard and fennel". The desserts tasted as amazingly as they looked!


"Oyster pebbles"

"Mallow with bay shrimp"
"Sea buckthorn, anise hyssop, liquorice and butternut"
"Sweet clover yogurt with nuts, rhubarb, brown sugar"

After lunch, we strolled through Cartmel which is a very pretty village with cute shops with great children toys (bought a little present for the Baby so that she would forgive me for leaving her behind...) and beautiful things for your home.

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