Blacksmiths Arms in Carlisle

Great place. Very good food and great portions too. Excellent choice of beers and always kept in perfect condition. Open fire in winter. Very child friendly but not dog friendly. That's why only 4 stars. Rooms are good and spacious too, clean and comfortable

Very nice meal and good service from the staff in a goo location.

It was a very nice pub to finish a walk in with some very pleasant bar staff. A nice coal fire, I must admit I had never heard of Talkin village before BUT!!!!!!!!!!!! They weren't serving food till 5.00 so I thought fairenough, then I saw the dessert menu, and it had Sticky ginger pudding Sticky toffee pudding Syrup sponge pudding Apple and Blackberry crumble And some cheesecake We have a coach that picks us up in Newcastle and takes us places. I was hungry but we were leaving at 5.00 THAT'S NOT FAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lovely friendly staff, quick service for our large table of 10. Yummy food with a good gluten free selection to.

We didn't stay, we just went for something to eat with friends.Great little pub with excellent food & very lovely & friendly staff.

A cozy pub in the middle of a village

Very poor value. The pub smelt strongly of reused corn oil, like a chip shop. Room 8 was very cold. We could not use the wardrobe because of mould. Clothes put in drawers felt damp the next day. Mould patches on the ceiling. A dehumidifier that hadn't been emptied for a while. Final straw was the breakfast, no porridge (takes 5mins in a microwave), and no fresh fruit. The milk was off. To be fair, the landlord didn't charge us when we checked out the next day.

We went for dinner with a friend and it was amazing. The pup is cosy and warm, there were plenty of areas to sit and drink/eat and even though it got pretty busy, tables were well spaced so it didn't feel crowded. Staff were really friendly and helpful. The food was epic - the brie starter especially! We will be back!

Lovely lunch here. Lots of choice on the menu & the food was very good. Its a really nice traditional pub &we enjoyed our visit very much.

A group of us stayed the staff were so friendly. The food was good and the atmosphere was nice. Had a good selection of whiskey. Will be going back.

5* for the friendly staff - 2* for the environment, unfortunately one rude customer ruined it. The pub would do well to follow the Health Act 2016 and have designated smoking areas. It's not enjoyable for anyone to have to breathe in the smoke of someone else. This guy was smoking in the front doorway when asked if he would mind moving down wind he refused, claiming his right. Dude it's just not pleasant when you're trying to eat. More could be done.

Arrived Saturday lunchtime shown to rooms which were excellent visited friends in village returned for evening meal excellent food and service left Sunday after very hearty full breakfast cannot fault the place and will visit again when in the area

Set in a lovely location with easy parking. Rooms are very dated and basic, bathroom good but with no ventilation that works. The pub itself has had no investment for nearly 50 years in my view, and is extremely dated in its style and decor. We were advised not to eat here by a local but everywhere else was closed on a Monday night so we had no choice. I can without doubt say that this is the worst food I've ever eaten. We choose 3 starters with chips to share. Everything was cooked from frozen including the chips. Very over cooked and tasteless. Chicken goujons were more like nuggets and burnt to a tasteless cinder. My advise, don't eat here.

Popped in for a drink whilst staying at Talkin Tarn, a proper pub in a beautiful picturesque village. Very friendly.

4 golfing mates playing Brampton stayed here one night, room each £85 B&B. Lovely rural hotel in very quiet village, 2 miles from Brampton. Rooms were clean and comfortable. Food was excellent. Staff were so helpfull and friendly. Probably a good location for walkers or golfers, etc. Great value for money. Restaurant was very busy

Celebrated my son's special birthday and have to say a huge thankyou to the Blacksmith inn at Talkin. The service and food were fantastic. The menu had so much choice , even the kids menu and nothing was too much trouble . Hadn't been in years but will definitely not leave it as long . Thankyou so much everyone at the Blacksmiths

Celebrated my son's special birthday and have to say a huge thankyou to the Blacksmith inn at Talkin. The service and food were fantastic. The menu had so much choice , even the kids menu and nothing was too much trouble . Hadn't been in years but will definitely not leave it as long . Thankyou so much everyone at the Blacksmiths

Had a great home cooked meal .A very friendly welcoming atmosphere . A proper pub.

This pub is a rare find nowadays providing excellent hospitality in a traditional setting and a stunning location. The staff couldn't have been more helpful and the breakfasts and evening meals are excellent. There's plenty of decent guns and beers to choose from and it's refreshing to find that dogs aren't allowed inside. We will definitely be returning.

The blacksmith arms was a wonderful stopping point on day two of our Hadrians‘s hike. We were tired and hungry, and the staff were so welcoming and friendly… They even let us put our wet shoes near the fire to dry out. The food was fantastic, and the vibe in the Restaurant was warm and convivial. Beds were great shower was hot and we even got treated to a siding of the neighborhood Peacock! We couldn’t have enjoyed our stay more and are so grateful to the hosts for all their kindness

Arrived here after a days walking on Hadrian’s wall. A lovely welcome, got a smashing room overlooking the village. Sunday night had a great meal and the pub was so busy. Plenty of good beers and a hearty breakfast fuelled us well for our longest days walking on the Monday. What a beautiful location.

Cosy local pub. Relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Generous dishes of standard pub meals done well with real beers on tap. Recommended

Called in for a meal good beer and standard pub grub but well presented and tasty and good service

Went for Sunday lunch the easiest thing for a chef to do and get right , 3rd place now visited in and around Brampton and this was poor . Place cold and 70's decor made even colder ordered drinks ok 2 starters ok plain n simple 2 beef meat wafer thin powdered Mash and frozen roasties fresh carrots tinned green beans and peas and a stale yorkie and gravy like pi55. All this for £52 . Could do with some consulting here and a Chef that knows what he/she is doing also with a bit of flair oh and 1 day later still waiting for the mint sauce that we asked for. Avoid Howard Arms 100% better

We were a family group of 5 gathered from a radius of 100 miles or so to discuss some family business over and after lunch together. Staff could not have been more helpful, offering us sole use of the garden room (it was midweek in March so fairly quiet - wouldn't always be possible I'm sure!) The room was comfortable and warm, the food excellent and the service attentive but not intrusive; the provision of a semi-private space was much appreciated. We were on site for almost 5 hours(!), but never felt we were outstaying our welcome: thank you! Warmly recommended! Jim Hope & Family

Went for food, which was fabulous, especially the sticky toffee pudding & the service was spot on. Lovely friendly staff, great atmosphere well worth a visit.

First visit in 4 years, still as welcoming with a roaring fire. Of course the prices have increased but the food is just as good if not better. Good choice of Snacks, Starters and Mains. Good service and the same owners who are really knowledgeable and chatty. Loved it.

Had a great 2 night stay at this lovely pub,all good,great staff,great food,great room in annexe at side so could park car at door,very clean ,hope it won't be too long till we return,anne a special lady and fantastic host,nice to have a chat to locals in the evening, breakfast first class.would recommend to all.

It's a really great hotel/inn/pub in a great setting. The rooms are reasonably sized and clean and the meal options are really tasty and reasonably priced.

Lovely place to relax with food or even just a drink. Delicious food Lovely staff Great atmosphere Beautiful open fire on a winters night

We had a lovely meal today, very good service, definitely be going back

Great pub. Nice beers great food. Warm and friendly atmosphere and nice service

Had an absolutely lovely afternoon here after a long day walking. Partner and I left the dog in the cottage and walked along to get a couple of drinks and some pub grub. Can't fault the service, everyone who dealt with us was both so polite and great chat! Food was decent and the wine pours were generous. The fire was on so a cosy feel and just very welcoming. Will defo be back when we return to the area.

Excellent food and staff....lovley warm pub ....we live local so go quite often....the chicken curry is the best 👌

Amazingly in the heart of walking country this is not a dog friendly pub. However fear not doggie owners 1 mile down the road at Castle Currock is the Duke of Cumberland totally dog friendly and terrific food.

Nice pub with good traditional pub food. Staff were great.

Very pleasant lodgings in a small Cumbrian village. Clean & tidy rooms offering value for money. Sumptuous breakfast. Recommended....the Black Sheep beer was perfect; lots of body & not hoppy.

….but sadly don’t allow dogs as lots of walkers visit and their pooches have often visited the Tarn first, arriving muddy. Understandable. Still a very friendly welcome, lovely team, two of the best ales on the market (Timothy Taylor’s and Black Sheep), excellent ambience, proper pub food and interesting clientele. Couldn’t have been nicer as we ate with a herd of visiting horse riders and their mounts in the early Autumn sun. Should probably allocate a room for the pooched as we would have spent much more time and money had we been able to sit inside. But we arrived stressed and left happy, well fed and watered. Can recommend the fish n chips (lovely batter and top chips) as well as the tasty lasagne (a decent, well-seasoned portion) and steak pie. Decent wine list too.

Traditional country pub with good ale and resident ghost. What more could you want?

Room could be bigger, service very good.

Excellent food, excellent beer and fair prices and friendly staff. It doesn't get much better

Love this garden out the back for our dogs. Lovely pub, such a gorgeous village.

1 star for being not dog friendly. Pub in such hiking area where people obviously take their doggos. We were 4 people with a small dog starving after a hike not even a busy time of the day and were turned away together with another couple. That’s losing 6 customers in 5 min! Not a great business mindset, not flexible for such area. Dogs are very welcome at Howard’s Arms - to all those turned away like us!

Visited the pub/restaurant on 2 seperate evenings whilst on holiday at castle carrock, We had our dog with us ,but even though its not dog friendly inside the pub You are able to sit outside in the beer garden with your dog on their lead. The food was excellent, great value for money and generous servings,the owner of the pub was very welcoming and had time to have a friendly chat with us Shame its not nearer to home,other wise it would be our regular local. We be back if were ever in the area again. Thank you x

Excellent pie, busy & friendly that evening

Just popped in for one Nice people and service

Really lovely dinner. Staff very friendly. Great pub food. Just what we were after! Will hopefully be back again soon!

Wonderful country pub. This is a traditional pub not a trendy town bar, and all the better for it. 35ml spirit measure as well. We had dinner, two courses each and a bottle of wine £55. Good portions on the food and the liver casserole was mighty fine as was the curry.

Totally fabulous food and a lovely warm welcome. Menu was huge and adding a photo of just one side as there was even more! All the staff and the owner were really friendly and very attentive. They even protected my sons meal when he had to pop back to his room during our meal. Great food Great value and family welcomed. Only shame is that we only stopped in on our way home for one night but will 100% return. Great place 10/10

Terrific food, great service, and good value.

Great pub with good food and excellent beer. We stayed just one night, comfortable and clean room, lovely cooked breakfast.

First time in the Blacksmiths Arms very friendly and helpful staff and the food was excellent thanks 😊

Good country pub. Friendly staff, nice rooms. Recommended

Always a pleasure to stay here. The family that run the place are great, the food is consistently good and not too expensive and the locals are friendly. The place is always busy in the evening and there is a good atmosphere. Well worth a visit.

Greeted by rudeness because we were shocked dogs weren't allowed in a pub. We had little choice as all other pubs in area had stopped serving, we then had by far the worst roast we've ever had. Yorkshire tasted nothing like a Yorkshire and there was no trimmings just little frozen veg with smash an some aunt Bessie roast potatoes. The beef was tougher than an old boot. Definitely won't be returned.

Great pint and service as normal , our favourite pub to call into when we are in the area .

My reply to explain and to respond to owners reply which was very understanding, I was with a very old friend meeting up , I didn’t want to complain, in there defence I have been a few times and never had a problem. I was been polite so just left my scampi really,

It's what a country pub should be like.👍👍👍

Disappointed as someone who has worked in the hospitality business for 45 years as a chef and house manager butler, if they are going to charge the prices they do they really need to up there game not great quality.

مكان جميل ورائع اتمنى زيارته من جمهورية السودان

Got put in an “outside room” which was small (no room to put bag on floor) and had a pump (or some other machine) in the ceiling that would keep turning on and off (extremely annoying). Had “Crab cakes” for dinner - un eatable. 90% overcooked crumbs and 10% filling and i could not find any hint of crab. Was not cheap either. Breakfast was ok next morning - poached eggs overcooked but ok. Was a bank holiday weekend but should be no excuse. I did complain and was not required to pay for meal but was made to feel like it was my fault the meal was not good. Response was along the lines of “no one has ever complained about the crab cakes before” rather than “ we are sorry that the food was not up to standard”

We took my 84 year old mother for lunch. What a lovely experience. The food was excellent, the staff were friendly and very attentive. One of the best value for money meals we’ve had in a long time. Thank you, we will definitely be back

Whilst staying locally, it was a delight to find a proper village pub again. We paid the pub two visits and enjoyed excellent food, good beers on both occasions. The staff went out of their way to look after us all, and we hope to return again!

Superb superb superb great place to stay and amazing breakfast

Fab lunch today. Very busy considering it was a Wednesday lunchtime. I had reserved a table fortunately and everything was as I asked for. Lovely greeting on arrival and checked if we were happy with our table. Beside a roaring fire 🔥 it was homely and comfortable. Extensive food menu with some lovely choices. I had the deep fried mushrooms with garlic mayonnaise to start and my friend had the duck spring rolls with soy st. Excellent value for money, large portions and extremely tasty. For main course, my friend had the rump steak, well done, with chips, onion rings, mushrooms, peas and carrots. She said it was perfect for her, I had beef stroganoff with fillet steak, absolutely delicious! The stroganoff sauce was amazing! Served with rice and chips and veg. We will definitely return and highly recommend this lovely pub with its super staff.

Excellent food, service and value. Four of us attended for lunch. The staff were so pleasant, professional and efficient. We will return

Excellent meal at a reasonable price. Attentive, cheerful staff. We'll be back.

By far one of my favourite pubs in the UK. Mostly because the staff are so friendly, the beer is priced reasonably and the food is consistently good old fashioned pub grub cooked well and the specials are always interesting.

Excellent food and service was good....lovley pub in stunning village

Enjoyed our meal, service and ambience. Pleased to be offered gluten free menu on request, however no prices on this menu and when bill arrived were charged £20 compared to £14 for equivalent dish from standard menu. A mark up of over 40%! seems a...

What an absolute gem. Nothing could be faulted. Hospitality superb with the most pleasant staff. Backed up with very good food and beer. We will be returning.

We called in here whilst out walking. The staff are very friendly and welcoming. We had a light lunch and drink whilst sat by the roaring log fire. Food, drink and ambiance was lovely. Highly recommend this wonderful place

Good beer choices including local beers

Cannot comment on the rooms as we are staying elsewhere but the pub was clean and very cozy so the rooms probably are too

Excellent pub to visit the staff are wonderful and very helpful the food out of this world I had a large roast beef delicious and everyone else in my party really enjoyed the food...5 * I would recommend a visit

We stayed for the weekend, a very warm and friendly pub with comfortable accommodation. It was very relaxing and we found the staff to be very helpful particularly Gareth. We will return.

Great traditional local pub. Excellent food, good value.

Popped in here for some dinner, very nice little pub in a nice village. All bar staff and the owner were very welcoming and food was lovely. Everything was nice and clean and tables not sticky.👍👍

We only visited for food and drinks. Service was good very friendly. Food was proper down to earth pub food

Lovely food and likeable owners

Excellent stop over. Good room and facilities. Very warm friendly service. Food good, excellent cooked breakfast. All good value

Great find. Friendly, good food clean and comfortable accommodation, Quiet location made for a good night sleep. And perfect location to attend the Talkin Tarn parkrun.

Stayed here on a cycling trip. Very friendly and welcoming, nice clean room with comfortable bed and lovely bathroom. Good food and lovely breakfast. Also a good selection of beers. Secure storage for bikes. Would definitely stay again and would highly recommend. Thank you.

Had a very nice home cooked meal...well worth going to if your in the area

Ein rundum gutes Essen, ein leckeres Bier und eine so nette zugewandte Willkommenskultur! Was will man mehr! Wir haben uns wohlgefühlt. Wir waren mit den Kindern und Enkelkindern gern dort! Eine reichhaltige Speisekarte mit leckeren regionalen Gerichten machte uns die Wahl schwer! Unser Favorit ist das Chicken-Curry; es hat wunderbar geschmeckt!! Für die Kinder gibt es eine liebevoll gestaltete Menükarte! Die Kinder lieben die Spagetti und die überbackenen Käsenudeln! Im kleinen aber feinen Innenhof gibt es unterm Sonnenschirm ein lauschiges Plätzchen! Tipp: Erkundigen Sie sich vorher ob noch ein Tisch frei ist!!! Sie machen alles möglich mit etwas Vorlaufzeit!!!

A super rural setting in a lovely little village near the Talkin Tarn beauty park. Attentive service and tasty food despite the 34C temperature. Cumbrian ales add to the range of flavours available. Hadn't been here since before lockdown so was delighted that the food quality and service was still high quality. Maintain that standard and I will be back.

We visited twice for some drinks and food. Service was great and staff really friendly.. the selection of food was great and it was excellent quality.

Great traditional Cumbrian pub with excellent service and food.

Fantastic place!! Lovely atmosphere, very nice staff and exquisite food 👌

Lovely place, great service. You can tell it is family run. Staff always on hand for a chat. Had lunch and breakfast. Looking forward to returning

Perfect place to stay. What a beautiful setting. The warm friendly welcome on arrival made us feel at home. The room was spotless and spacious. The service and food was excellent. Thank you to Gareth for a perfect couple of days. Highly recommended

Family visit to this pub. The welcome was friendly and the staff approachable. The pub was busy that evening but even so the service was very acceptable. The menu has all the pub favourites, lasagna, fish pie, gammon, fish and chips as well as a...

Very friendly staff good menu with a great selection and the same with beers, would go back.

Warm & cosy pub! Good food, wide selection of drink & a friendly team

Call in for a cup of tea and half a pint, it looked very welcoming, and the staff were good.

Staff very friendly food was lovely

Friendly welcome friendly staff food was lovely

Very warm welcome. Good food, well kept beer. Definitely recommend

Stayed one Monday night, room was comfortable and clean. Ate in the restaurant , the food and service were excellent and the owners and their family made us very welcome. A great pint or two of Black sheep only added to the experience. The owners...

Excellent food friendly people well recommended