SIMON ROGAN’S LAKE DISTRICT
Wild swimming, epic mountains, villages with history etched into every building, and the small matter of a three-Michelin-starred restaurant and England’s best pudding: it’s no wonder Simon Rogan loves the Lakes
The walk up to High Dam, a tarn near Lake Windermere, is worth the early morning start. Weaving your way through thick woodlands as the sun slowly cuts a dappled a path through the gaps in the forest roof, it’s a steep climb to the beauty spot, a favourite among locals for an early-morning swim. Luckily, while using the view as an excuse to catch a breath, you can stop for a breather and take in the lush meadows running alongside the trail. When you reach the summit and High Dam – a man-made lake dating back to the 1800s – you can wash away the rigours of your walk with the most refreshing of swims. So fresh, it doesn’t so much give the circulatory system a kickstart as put it into a spin cycle.
Not that it’s stopped the chefs and staff of nearby L’Enclume, Simon Rogan’s freshly threeMichelin-starred restaurant with rooms in the village of Cartmel. Even on the frosty day we visit in spring, Sam Ward, the managing director, and restaurant manager Graeme Cumine are taking dips (the former getting extra credit for lending his wetsuit to this guest for the day).
It’s a routine for in-the-know locals aware of the powers of the wild, and even Simon Rogan – who we meet afterwards in the warmth of his six-seater chef’s table, Aulis, next to L’Enclume – is about to dive in. ‘I’m going to start doing cold-water swimming with the guys – they keep ribbing me to go,’ he says, ‘but I’m going to work my way up to winter; I’ll try and season myself first.’
With travel taken away in recent times, Simon’s passion for the Lake District has been rekindled. ‘I got to spent time away from the restaurant, going for a ride around the lakes or up to the mountains, seeing the kind of places that blow your mind,’ he says. ‘The job always prevented me getting to know everything, but lockdown was mega for me – staff on furlough, doing “at home” [deliveries], plodding along. I got out and saw the Lake District again, reminding myself why I fell in love with it and what I’d been missing by travelling.’
Ever since he opened Roganic in London more than a decade ago, Simon has traversed the UK and beyond. But with travel even to his own restaurant in Hong Kong off the cards for now, he’s back in thrall to England’s northerly region of glacier lakes, wildly rugged mountain landscape and literary fairy tales.
‘It’s magical isn’t it?’ he says. ‘The mountains, the greenery, so plush, and, yes, the weather can be moody, but that’s the beauty of it. You could have a torrential downpour one minute, and half an hour later the skies are crystal clear. There’s something about that crisp blue skyline against the mountains. The quality of life here is so much better,’ he adds. ‘I think now a lot of people are working that out. This has got to be the most beautiful place to work in the UK.’
And he makes the most of it. ‘Hiking Scafell Pike [England’s highest peak at 978m] is my favourite pastime – on a clear day, you can see so much of the UK. Then there’s Bassenthwaite, the most northerly lake, where I was shown a secret pathway from a caravan park right at the top leading to this isolated spot on the north shore. You look down with mountains on either side – it’s one of quietest spots there.’
Despite his knowledge, he’s not quite a local yet. ‘You have to be here for 23 years,’ he laughs. ‘It’s what I’ve always been told, and I’ve only been here for 21 years! But I consider myself to be a local; this is my home. I love being in London for a day, but I’m always excited about getting on the train to come back here.’
He first came to L’Enclume after failing to find his cooking mojo in previous kitchens, which include myriad big names. ‘I’ve been a bit unlucky with jobs, working for other people,’ he says. ‘They probably say the same about me, but I’ve never quite got what I wanted, I’ve never found the person to work with. I worked for some pretty heavy-hitting chefs and you just think that’s the way to do it,’ he continues. ‘But then you gradually realise it’s not the best way. The best way is to be nice, to share and encourage and train and, you know, make