The best restaurants in Derwent Valley Allerdale North West

Precis: Wow! Excellent! Any other superlative you choose! Full review: What a wonderful gem of a find! From the start the welcome was warm and friendly. Nothing was too much trouble for Gary, Donna and their team; what a diamond they have found in Jack! The quality of the furnishings is very high, the fittings top class and the home made biscuits in the bedroom were delicious! Even a welcome decanter of sherry to start off your stay! The hallway walls are adorned with award plaques from numerous organisations! The grounds were extensive and very well kept. We had read about the wild red squirrels and hoped we may get to spot one - no fears there; we watched them running around the garden and feeder each day! Now for the food! Absolutely excellent! Each evening started at 7pm with canapés and good conversation with fellow guests, most of whom seem to be repeat visitors, with good reason! Gary is very personable and quite the bon viveur, his knowledge of wine is excellent, after all by his own admission he has been in the game for a good number of years! The four course dinner menu is set, no choices, but the menu is on display each morning and I'm sure that alternatives could be organised if enough notice were given. Each course was exquisite, served piping hot (where appropriate!) and presented beautifully, as was the table in general. Service was efficient, friendly and knowledgeable. Breakfast was just as good! Hazel Bank has seven rooms and the restaurant is open only to residents. All this means that each guest gets very personal, and personable, service from start to finish! If you think that this review is a little enthusiastic then I doubt you've visited! Don't get me wrong, it isn't for everybody and nowhere is totally perfect, but Hazel Bank gets VERY close!

This was our first visit to The Cottage in the Wood and it was a fantastic experience. The staff were, without exception, all friendly and helpful. The tasting menu was amazing and occupied the whole evening. Every course was personally explained by the attentive team, who also introduced the vegetarian options where they differed from the standard menu. After a night in one of the comfortable rooms, our stay was rounded off by a wonderful breakfast with a breath-taking view across the valley.

2nd visit to this fabulous restaurant with rooms but this time under new owners/management. You instantly feel at home when you walk into the cosy reception area for a welcome complimentary hot drink and a slice of the most amazing lemon drizzle cake. We noticed that a full redecoration had taken place since our first visit and the quality just oozes from the paint on the walls. We chose a different room type from last time and were perfectly comfortable before getting ready for our evening dinner. The dinner was superb with the beef being the stand out dish for me but the gorgeous bread ran it a close second believe it or not! Great table service from the staff, nice and friendly and relaxed and not a hint of stuffiness involved. Great selection of wines of which they are happy for you to take tastes and find your favorites by the glass. The place was busy for a mid week evening which can only bode well for this unique property in the heart of Cumbria. I know people say they will go back but we have been and will again. Brilliant !

Awesome Christmas Day meal - as always top draw food and service from George and his team. Super starters, awesome beef main and superb dessert - perfect portion sizes and quality - see you next year!

Superb friendly service from start to finish. Lovely hotel with well stocked bar and food offering in the restaurant was amazing.

Lovely, well designed and clearly recently refurbished to a modern and high level hotel. Friendly staff and properly dog friendly. Food for dinner and breakfast was excellent. More thought and variety for vegetarian options would be welcomed. Room No. 9 was good but there wasn’t a full sized wardrobe and our sleep was badly interrupted by water dripping from the ceiling through the fire alarm in the middle of the night; dripped a good 3 hours. This was reported the following morning and the manager did apologise which is appreciated.

Situated in a lovely place, had big hopes as had been recommended by numerous people. Service was brisk, completely inattentive, ordered soup which was meant to be apple and parsnip, after ordering the soup was changed on the board to spicy carrot and lentil. Completely inedible. No opportunity to fix it. I'm not sure why this isn't a 1* review really.

We called in here after the Catbells walk. The short queue was well worth the wait. The food was fabulous, with healthy options, the staff friendly and organised, and overall worth every one of the 5 stars! Looking forward to visiting again! Thank you!

Stayed for 2 nights with my wife. Absolutely amazing location and great hotel, staff were really friendly, had breakfast both mornings and it was perfect. Did a route around stonethwaite Friday afternoon and the hotel was only 15 minute drive from our starting point. Saturday we walked raven cragg & great how, the drive to from hotel to starting point was only 20 minutes. We couldn’t have asked for a better place to stay, will definitely head back and stay again. Thanks 👍🏾🤙🏾

The menu has deteriorated unfortunately from previous high standard . Chicken Caesar salad was just over cooked breaded chicken on a serving of salad with little dressing. The flat iron steak was not in a ciabatta as advertised and not as flavoursome as it always was on the previous menu. Skinny chips instead of chunky is I suppose a matter of taste but another step backwards in my opinion

Delicious home baking with local produce and perfectly situated for enjoying views of beautiful Borrowdale. We enjoyed carrot and coriander soup with toasted cheese and chive scones - highly recommended!

Absolute little gem of a tearoom, very friendly & food fantastic, especially the Herdwick stew, mint jelly & the best homemade cheese scone I've found, always a pleasure to return ❤️

Great breakfast,cooked to perfection by Sarah, same great quality every morning. Highly recommend,great start to the day.

So disappointed to arrive last night for our restaurant reservation to be told "it's not in the book"! You are not able to book online therefore we phoned 3 weeks prior but obviously whoever took the call never "put it in the book". The fact we are on honeymoon made this even more disappointing.

Only slight thing shower not boiling hot