26 June 2026
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When one of a country’s most beautiful regions is also one of its best places to eat, planning a trip there becomes a no-brainer. The Lake District – a stunning National Park dotted with landscapes worth photographing and peaks worth conquering – has long been synonymous with food. It’s where much of the UK’s best produce comes from, especially lamb, and iconic British foods including gingerbread and sticky toffee pudding were invented here. Today, it’s a MICHELIN-Star paradise, with eight restaurants receiving the award, many of them in top-drawer hotels.
Here, we take you on a tour of the region from north to south, allowing food lovers to plan the perfect Lake District itinerary.
Allium at Askham Hall: The Northern Gateway
We start our tour of Lakeland luxury with this attractive restaurant, styled like a country kitchen and set within an 11th-century castle. Nestled in the northeastern corner of the National Park, it’s not far from the town of Penrith – a good base if you want more amenities – and is the closest MICHELIN Star to picturesque Ullswater.Chef Richard Swale, who grew up in the area, leads the kitchen, showcasing terrific ingredients from the kitchen garden and the surrounding Lowther Estate in accomplished, well-balanced dishes. Sauce-making is a particular skill of the kitchen’s, with the flavours perfectly calibrated to complement and enhance the produce. The superb wine list covers an immense scope and will have you clamouring for a wander round the cellars.
The Cottage in the Wood: The Rural Hidden Gem
Also in the northern portion of the Lake District, this rural spot lives up to its name with its tranquil setting high up in Whinlatter Forest. In an area as popular as the Lakes, it’s great to find somewhere that still feels hidden – with beautiful walks nearby around Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake. Bizarrely, the latter is the only body of water here that’s actually designated as a ‘Lake’.The restaurant itself is a delight, with diners spread across the cosy dining room and the modern conservatory with genuinely stunning views. Chef Jack Bond and his wife Beth took over in 2024 and have put their own spin on the place. Jack’s well-honed technique and assured flavours are peppered with creative touches, while the wood-burning stove and vinyl records bring a retro touch.
Forest Side: The Garden Gastronome
We now move southwards into the picturesque heart of the Lake District, where you’ll find many of its most popular towns and best restaurants. Forest Side sits just outside Grasmere, a gorgeous little village that’s also the final resting place of poet William Wordsworth. The modern-meets-rustic dining room (look out for the cutlery bound in toolkit-like leather scrolls) sits within a MICHELIN-Key country house hotel with a touch of Gothic grandeur.Chef Paul Leonard’s cooking is designed to be 'a reflection of the landscape in which it sits’. That means that the Victorian kitchen garden and foraged ingredients play a key part in the menu, especially when it comes to the drinks, with the bar enlivened by colourful spirits infused with everything from pineapple weed to flowering currant. The polished cooking can be adapted into a serious plant-based menu with advance notice too.
Old Stamp House: The History-Soaked Hit
Continue south towards Windermere – one of the Lake District’s most famous bodies of water – and at its tip you’ll find Ambleside, a loveable town filled with slate-built cottages and not one but two MICHELIN-Starred restaurants. One of them is this aptly named spot where you can eat in the cellars of a house where William Wordsworth used to work as the Distributor of Stamps.Ingredients such as wild Cumbrian deer are given pride of place in Chef Ryan Blackburn’s dishes that eschew overcomplication in favour of honest, natural flavours. Finish with the enticing sticky toffee madeleines, as this part of the world is known for the classic dessert. If you want a taste of Blackburn’s simpler cooking style, then head upstairs to THE SCHELLY, awarded a Bib Gourmand for its great value dishes.
Lake Road Kitchen: The Nordic Room with Lakeland Charm
The other Ambleside Star, just a stone’s throw from Old Stamp House, is this passionately run spot that combines the usual Lake District charm with an affinity for restaurants a little further afield. If you’ve ever eaten in Scandinavia, you’ll recognise the dining room’s minimalist yet inviting chic, epitomised by the sheepskin rugs draped over the chairs.The menu, meanwhile, takes occasional detours to Japan, using ingredients such as the flavoursome karebushi (the fishy wonder also known as katsuobushi or bonito flakes) used to bring some extra intensity to Chef James Cross’ tasting menu. His dishes are technically impressive and highlight well-conceived combinations of flavours and textures. While you’re in Ambleside, film lovers should check out Zeffirelli’s, an independent cinema serving local movie buffs since 1980.
The Samling: The Boutique Country House
Just outside of Ambleside, The Samling has spent years providing one of the best examples of Lakeland country house hospitality you will find. Not only a MICHELIN-Star restaurant but also a Two-MICHELIN-Key hotel, the 18th-century property is smaller than you might expect, offering an intimate, personal feel rather than detached grandeur. Perched on a hillside above Windermere, its views are a natural selling point too.You’ll have ample opportunity to enjoy them via the dining room’s floor-to-ceiling windows. You might feel bad looking away from the gorgeous vistas for even a second, but it’s worth it to take in Chef Robby Jenks’ refined dishes. He has a streamlined, uncluttered style of cooking that hands the spotlight to top-drawer produce, from perfectly poached langoustine to A5 wagyu beef.
SOURCE at Gilpin Hotel: The All-in-One Retreat
Continue to about halfway down Windermere and you’ll reach the Two-MICHELIN-Key Gilpin Hotel & Lake House, which provides two luxury getaways in one. There’s the main manor, whose Georgian shell has been gently modernised with impeccable taste, and the Lake House around a mile away. The latter has just six rooms and its own small lake, making it the perfect place to escape life’s noise.SOURCE is the MICHELIN-Star restaurant that helps make the whole experience unmissable. Chef Kevin Scanlan crafts dishes that are sophisticated yet not overcomplicated, putting Lakeland produce at the heart of his menu, with the occasional foray to Japan and beyond for added inspiration. The fact the hotel has both a spa and a second, more casual restaurant – the Indian-influenced Gilpin Spice – makes it an even better all-round package for your next weekend away.
heft: The Proud Locals
Kevin and Nicola Tickle are born-and-bred Cumbrians, and it shows in their proudly run restaurant. Right in the south of the Lake District, at the end of a scenic drive down Windermere, it’s one of the most accessible MICHELIN-Star spots if you’re travelling from the south, making a trip up from Manchester all the more appealing.Kevin, the chef of the pair, had worked in notable kitchens around the region, including Forest Side and L’Enclume, before he and Nicola set up their own venture. His knowledge of the local area, and of foraging in particular, plays a key role in the cooking, as do his understanding of flavour and occasional playful streak. While the menu changes with the seasons, expect dish names like ‘When Daisy Met Bramble’ or ‘Onion, Onion, Onion, Mint’ – their execution is imaginative but never gimmicky.
L’Enclume: The Gold Standard
Before any geographical pedants step in, we know that L’Enclume is not technically within the Lake District boundaries. Yet the impact and all-round quality of Chef Simon Rogan’s flagship restaurant is so great, that we simply couldn’t ignore it. Only a five-minute drive from the border, in the village of Cartmel, Rogan’s restaurant was one of the pioneers of field-to-fork cooking and he is a passionate ambassador for the region.The 12-acre ‘Our Farm’ development provides ingredients for the brilliantly constructed tasting menu, where outstanding natural flavours are enhanced by cleverly conceived, perfectly balanced combinations. The Rogan mini-empire also includes the more laid-back Rogan & Co (One MICHELIN Star) up the road and Henrock inside the MICHELIN-Key Linthwaite House Hotel. If you’re a Londoner craving the chef’s signature taste of the Lakes, then Soho’s Aulis, with its chef’s table, is for you.
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Hero Image: A dessert from SOURCE at Gilpin Hotel, one of the best restaurants in the Lake District. © Andre Ainsworth/SOURCE at Gilpin Hotel
