Warm welcome awaits in beautiful Borrowdale

Windermere is the first lake to pop up on our route and my friend who is driving can barely keep her eyes on the road. She has never visited the Lake District before and not surprisingly, is impressed. We are heading to the Northern Lakes and are glad of it as we see the crowds around Windermere and Grasmere.

From Keswick, we head down the Borrowdale Valley, one of the most beautiful places in Cumbria, skirting alongside Derwent Water towards The Leathes Head Hotel, our home for two nights.

We are warmly greeted by hotel general manager Laura and after a quick wash and brush up in our charming twin room we are back out on the hotel terrace with the sun on our backs, a gin and tonic in our hands with iconic mountains including Scafell Pike, Great Gable and Glaramara around us. It’s blissfully peaceful – all we can hear are lambs bleating in the fields and the birds singing in the hotel’s garden and woodland.

The Winner of Cumbria Tourism’s ‘Small Hotel of the Year’ in 2016 and recently awarded The Sheila Hensman award for outstanding contribution to excellence, the luxury 11-bedroomed Edwardian country house Leathes Head Hotel has recently been refurbished with a brand-new restaurant makeover.

It was the first 2AA rosette- awarded restaurant in Borrowdale and we weren’t disappointed when we lifted our eyes from the vast gin menu (many local to the area) and looked what head chef Noel Breaks had to offer. He uses locally grown and reared ingredients such as Herdwick Lamb from Yew Tree Farm, milk and free range eggs from Scales Farm and cheese from The Kendal Cheese Company.

A delicious, velvety-smooth roasted cauliflower mouse bouche set the scene for the culinary treats to come over in the beautiful dining room.

Over two dinners we enjoyed delights such as smoked haddock soup, mackerel served with rhubarb, kohlrabi, celery and rack of Yew Tree Farm hogget with baby beetroot, fondant potato, roasted shallot. The fillet of aged Cumbrian beef with confit onion, parsnip and leek was so good we ordered it both days. But so too was the seabass served in a sumptuous pool of caviar sauce.

For dessert I tried the pistachio cake with bee pollen meringue, toffee panna cotta and sampled a delicious Elysium dessert wine while my friend was enjoyed a Corney and Barrow tawny port alongside her cheese board. From the excellent wine selection we opted for a fruity French Dom St Estephe Merlot on the first day and a lovely intense Argentinian Malbec Chamuyo on the second.

We were up early next day for the full Cumbrian breakfast – a delicious ensemble of local bacon, sausage, black pudding and eggs.

We were booked in the afternoon at Oxleys at Underscar Spa. We walked the west side of Derwent Water, an enjoyable few hours rambling across meadows, through woodland and alongside Catbells Fell, a popular climb if you have time.

Oxleys Spa was just the ticket after our four-hour trek and after a delicious lunch in the café, beauticians Emilia and Andrea took us to the treatment rooms for our half-hour pamper included in the half-day package. I opted for a relaxing Decleor Time Precious facial while my friend had a deeper Back Neck and Shoulder massage. The half-day package also includes full use of the excellent spa facilities – steam room, sauna jacuzzi and pool but we gave the gym as miss as we had to walk back (downhill fortunately) to Derwent Water to catch the ferry back.

After another excellent dinner and breakfast, it was time for our final visit to Honister Slate Mine, England’s last working slate mine, to try out its brand-new multimedia mine tour. This fascinating expedition brings the mine’s history to life through storytelling and ourguide Tori got us all involved even allowing one of the youngest members to set off an ‘explosion’.

There is plenty to do and see for all ages in the Lake District and we have booked to go back. We can’t guarantee the weather will be as good, but we do know the hospitality at the Leathes Head Hotel will be.