Haweswater Hotel

We stayed here when we were very young and courting. 25 years ago this fabulous building wore a melancholy air of faded former glory, it didn't quite match up to it's fabulous setting.
In the years since it's had nearly a dozen owners, but each has failed to find, or indeed fund, a renaissance. We last called in a years ago, but we always glance wistfully as we often pass by.

So today we stopped. And wow. The latest owner has a real architectural passion and it shows. In two years from the roof down he's renovated and restored, everything is very much in keeping with a sense 1930's pragmatism matched by decadence. When it was originally built to replace the packhorse hotel lost when Manchester Corporation flooded the valley it was intended to have a sense of wow. But it was also intended to be used.

The bar food was excellent and the evening menu looks very good, the fact that even in February it was nearly fully booked also bodes well. We'll be back. It must be a contender for best dining room view in Cumbria.

I felt sure the view from the lounge would be my blip, but as we sat with drinks by the fire this cheeky little chap was dancing along the wall, probably 4ft away. He had a lot of grey so I think he's old, but I also think he's pretty well fed.