Anthony H.
Yelp
Fulfillingness First Finale
You know wot!?, having just spent the last few weeks in some of the more popular big city destinations, where people flock like lemmings, it is brilliant to be in the wilds again. So good not having to step over crashed out crackheads or be subject to street detritus holding out a hand asking for a few pounds in an attempt at psychological manipulation.Fuck that shit.
This is the Lake District with its mountains, valleys & rivers and herds of wildlife and I had spent the day walking the Fells before yomping it back in to Ambleside for dinner at the Old Stamp House with its William Wordsworth heritage "I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o'er vales and hills"
Two low-ceilinged rooms feature exposed beams and slate floors. The natural flavours of Cumbrian ingredients are championed in concise menus which showcase modern cooking. They serve seasonal food 'Insired by Cumbria'and sourced locally wherever possible.
I was here when it first opened 5 years ago and chef Ryan Blackburn has gone from strength to strength since his time as head chef at "The Cottage in the Wood @ Whinlatter". Your bill here will be relative to the food you have been served. Quality will always have a price but I have yet to think that the price is OTT. People travel all the way from London just to eat the "Herdwick Hogget" speciality.
Fed, watered and suitably satiated by a bottle of Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot, I made my way back along the winding lamplit streets and through the door of the cottage before crashing facedown on to my featherdown four poster.
Bliss.
I could almost be back in the Shire in Hobbiton ...