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!

What an amazing experience. The setting is stunning, the food is magical and the whole ethos of sustainability surrounding The Cottage in the Wood is inspiring.

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.

Came from London on a day trip to the Lake District and was immediately enchanted by not only the location but also the food offered at the Ivy House. Locally sourced from suppliers and made with warmth, the Ivy House is a must for for those visiting the area and wanting to treat yourself to the local cuisine. I will be sure to come back and enjoy the fantastic atmosphere and friendly staff.

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.

Just had a lovely breakfast here. We had Eggs Benedict for and pancakes. Really nice. Let's in dogs so that was good.

We called in here twice over two days as it was on the trails we were walking feom Keswick,the grounds are beutiful and in spring the flowers were just starting to bloom,we called into the resteraunt for food and had a bacon sandwich one visit and coffee and cake on the second visit , the staff are feoendly and efficient in their service,great place to visit if you are in the area

An excellent 2 night stay. The food, tools and service were impeccable 👌

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

Only slight thing shower not boiling hot

I had earmarked this tearoom for our lunch stop which would be 3/4 point of our 8.5 mile walk round the Borrowdale Valley. We sat inside as it was a rather chilly day, friendly welcome and lovely food the toasted cheese & chive scones are delicious and my hubby thoroughly enjoyed his Cumberland sausage roll, along with a couple of hot drinks. Well worth stopping, I'm sure sitting outside in warmer weather would be lovely. Highly recommend.

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.