3 QUICK TRIPS
Cosy escapes close to home
The Pig at Bridge Place, Canterbury
Local fizz, seasonal pies and plenty of cosy nooks in which to curl up – a stay at The Pig is sure to make you feel at home. Checking in feels like slipping on a cosy cashmere jumper. Rooms in the main house – a smartly converted grade Ii-listed Jacobean red-brick building just outside Canterbury – are decorated in a colour palette of soothing sage, ivory and burnt orange, with wooden floors and brickwork softened by linen and velvet fabrics. There are also luxe lodges set in the surrounding 10-acre parkland, which come equipped with kitchens, squashy sofas and wood-burning stoves. The Hop Pickers’ Huts, neat retreats for two, sit on stilts over the estate’s water meadow. All rooms have a larder stocked with goodies (think sourdough, local butter and good co ee).
Sit back with a Squerryes Kentish fizz or local cider served in the bar’s colourful glassware and kick o your evening with ‘piggy treats’; a snack board of pork scratchings, chipolatas and mini hock eggs (£3.95). In the laid-back dining room, the pie of the season might be game accompanied by a pile of buttery colcannon and liquor (starters from £6, mains from £14). The Pig’s menu highlights local artisan producers, and the kitchen sources ingredients within a 25-mile radius. Snoad Farm in Faversham supplies the pork (snoadfarm.com) and The Wonky Parnsip in Canterbury provides veg, fruit and herbs (thewonkyparsnip.com). Shelves heave with jars of forced rhubarb, pickled radishes and heritage carrots, showing commitment to bottling summer’s abundance for use in the winter months. The room has an indoor-outdoor feel, and potted herbs reflect the plot-to-plate ethos – it may even encourage you to take a stroll around the garden. Warm up afterwards with a relaxing massage in the Potting Shed treatment rooms, accessed through the walled kitchen garden. Christine Hayes
Checking in feels like slipping on a cosy cashmere jumper
The Yan’s menu focuses on hearty food that’s ideal for fuelling outdoor adventure
The Yan at Broadrayne, Cumbria
It doesn’t get much cosier than a stay at The Yan, a boutique hotel in a converted 17th-century farmhouse that’s tucked away within the dramatic landscape of the Lakes. This friendly, family-run bistro with beds is in perfect harmony with its location, and ideally set up for those who want to make the most of its surroundings.
In keeping with that theme, The Yan’s bistro menu focuses on hearty food that’s ideal for fuelling outdoor adventures. Start your day with the farmer’s feast: every element of this breakfast is made from scratch, from the hash browns and baked beans to the ketchup, and even the eggs are fresh from the farm. The bistro reopens early for dinner at 3pm, just in case you return hungry from a day of walking. The menu features nostalgic, filling favourites, like roast dinner sharing platters served with pork crackling, apple sauce, roast potatoes, veg and cider gravy. Just a 20-minute stroll down the road, the postcard-perfect village of Grasmere is home to an abundant choice of cafés and restaurants. Head to Mathilde’s Café at Heaton Cooper Studio
(heatoncooper.co.uk) for soup or slice of cake (£6.50 for soup with bread) and take a peek at the adjoining gallery to see locally painted landscapes and prints. Tweedies Bar & Lodge (tweediesgrasmere.com) is popular for Sunday roasts, and o ers an impressive range of local craft beers and ales. Just across the street, Sarah Nelson’s Grasmere Gingerbread
( grasmeregingerbread.co.uk), the oldest gingerbread shop in the country, is a must-visit. Dating back to 1854, it’s tucked away in the tiny cottage next to St Oswald’s Church, and sells freshly baked slices of warm, chewy gingerbread.
There’s no shortage of stunning scenery in the Lake District, and just a short drive from Grasmere you’ll find plenty more picturesque villages and walks, including one from Skelwith Bridge to the beautiful Elterwater lake. Start with lunch at the hugely popular Chesters by the River (chestersbytheriver. co.uk). Set right on the river Brathay near Skelwith Bridge, you can enjoy lunch among the trees on a bright day. Dishes at this vegetarian café-restaurant include satisfying salads and flavour-packed, globally inspired dishes like onion bhajis and raita flatbreads or hummus & falafel buddha bowls, as well as a very tempting selection of cakes and bakes (lunch mains from £4.50).
For a truly special foodie experience, dinner at Lake Road Kitchen (lakeroadkitchen.co.uk) is an absolute must. Open in the evenings from Wednesday to Sunday, you can book a five-, eight- or 12-course tasting menu created by head chef James Cross and his highly skilled team. Innovative dishes change regularly, but all aim to show o local produce; we enjoyed mutton broth made from local Herdwick sheep, a seriously clever celeriac taco starter filled with glazed duck leg & pickled cabbage, and a creamy baked goat’s cheese cheesecake with pear caramel & sorbet (£90 per person). Anna Lawson
How to do it
Standard double rooms at The Yan (theyan.co.uk) start from £100 per night (breakfast not included). Going for an extra-special reason? Just down the road between the villages of Ambleside and Windermere, The Samling is great for romantic or special occasions (thesamlinghotel. co.uk). Classic double rooms start from £280 per night. For more information, visit golakes.co.uk.
Brownber Hall delivers modern comforts in spades
Howgill Fells, Yorkshire
The scent of fresh sourdough pizza isn’t what you’d expect to smell wafting out of a Victorian manor house in Yorkshire’s Howgill Fells, but Brownber Hall delivers this and other such contemporary comforts in spades. Chef-owner Amanda Walker serves a modest yet accomplished menu of pizza and pasta, plus seasonal starters including a charcuterie board with Cumbrian air-dried ham (starters from £3, pizza and pasta from £9.50). Arrive early to enjoy a fireside drink from the rather grand honesty bar, but rise in good time the following morning to indulge in breakfast – it features Amanda’s mum’s marmalade, homemade granola and local Cumbrian sausage. Brownber is a family a air – the floral-printed drapes and velvet cushions (also courtesy of Amanda’s mum) are brought to harmony with antiques, modern prints and mid-century treasures (all salvaged from Soho House) by Amanda’s interior designer sister. One of the eight bedrooms even comes fitted with an iron-framed four-poster bed hand-hewn by a local metalworker. Amanda’s husband, Peter, serves as front of house, and is almost always accompanied by their black lab, Bella. Speak to him for suggestions for walks on which your own hound can join, as the hotel o ers some dog-friendly rooms.
On the doorstep of the hotel you’ll find a section of the old North Eastern Railway line, an easy, scenic walk from Smardale Gill Old Viaduct
(cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk). If it’s an ice cream day, the spicy apple crumble ice cream at Howgill Fellside is highly recommended (howgillfellicecream.co.uk), but if it’s not your thing, there are many other flavours that all come courtesy of the farm’s dairy herd. Howgill Fells is virtually unknown outside of the hillwalking set, save for the small ‘book town’ of Sedbergh. Select a title from one of its eight bookshops to read after dinner at The Black Bull, a 17th-century inn run by James Ratcli e and chef-partner Nina Matsunaga that’s been revamped into a chic space. Rooms (again, some pet-friendly) are stylish, with natural blankets, wood panelling and canvases of the area by renowned photographer Rob Whitrow. Bathrooms are fitted with free-standing baths and stocked with Petrichor toiletries by The Sedbergh Soap Co (sedbergh-soap.co.uk). House-baked biscuits can be found on bedside tables and are a total treat, as are all of The Black Bull’s bakes. Bread and pastries come from Three Hares, a café across the street run by Nina and James (threeharescafe.co.uk). The café also provides the crumbs for Nina’s sourdough ice cream, a hearty finish to a refined menu that ri s on Nina’s Japanese heritage and James’ Dales roots, plus the couple’s background as veterans of Manchester’s food scene. Try the aubergine miso & kimchi, Howgill Hereford beef & ale pie and cherry blossom gelato (two courses from £21.75). Sarah Barrell
How to do it
Double rooms at Brownber Hall (brownberhall.co.uk) cost from £90 per night with breakfast (dinner served Thursday-sunday) and from £99 with breakfast at The Black Bull (theblackbullsedbergh.co.uk). Assistance for this feature was provided by The Pig (thepighotel.com), Brownber Hall (brownberhall.co.uk), The Black Bull (theblackbullsedbergh. co.uk), The Yan (theyan.co.uk) and The Samling (thesamlinghotel.co.uk).