■ WASDALE HEAD INN, WASDALE
The Wasdale Head is found at the foot of England’s highest mountain and beside England’s deepest lake. And a true mountain pub it is too. Frequented by pioneering climbers in the 1800s, it’s often referred to as the birthplace of British climbing, from where many first ascents were made, including Napes Needle. The pub has attracted great figures of literature, including Wordsworth, Coleridge and Dickens! Great Gable, Yewbarrow and Scafell Pike are just some of the many Lakeland greats that surround the inn, in the most rugged and mountainous part of England. Today walkers are drawn irresistibly to Ritson’s Bar, named after a previous landlord of the hotel, who was renowned as ‘The World’s Biggest Liar’ in the mid-1800s.