Foodies Need to Know About These Michelin-Star Destinations in Cumbria
A small stretch of countryside near Carlisle is home to two renowned restaurants. We head west to check out two very different Michelin-star menus, at the Pentonbridge Inn and Farlam Hall
Turning off a small country road 20 minutes north of Carlisle, we join a winding drive, passing a walled garden and manicured lawns dotted with sculptures, before the imposing face of Netherby Hall comes into view.
The grand main house here is a private residence, although since it was bought and renovated around a decade ago it’s often opened up for events (including classical music in the hall’s stunning panelled Oak Room). The stables and adjacent buildings meanwhile have been restored and updated to create nine self-catering apartments and holiday cottages. Ours is in the stable yard, just below the clock tower, and is equipped with everything we could need for a comfortable stay. There’s a large bedroom with a luxurious ensuite, and a spacious living and dining room with a wood-burning stove and a kitchen in one corner. There are fresh flowers on a sunny windowsill, and we discover a bottle of the estate’s own Walled Garden gin waiting for us, alongside some local chocolates and bottles of tonic. Having put those straight in the fridge (which is helpfully also stocked with milk) we head out to explore the grounds. Following a path through the woods we discover a summerhouse in the corner of the sweeping lawn in front of the house, while in the Walled Garden several gardeners are busy at work in the beds, borders and glasshouses. There are artworks dotted among the woods (depicting everything from tree root plates to birds of prey), and on the lawn behind the house a stunning sculpture of a mare and foal.
At half past seven we’re promptly collected and driven to the Pentonbridge Inn for dinner. This Michelin-star restaurant is owned by Netherby Hall, and lots of guests take advantage of it during their stay at the hall (the chefs here also make use of produce from the gardens at Netherby on the menus). A whitewashed building set at a small rural crossroads, the Pentonbridge Inn seems to have pulled off the neat trick of being both a fine-dining restaurant and an actual pub – there are a few people in the bar who have clearly just stopped in for a drink, and the tables in the restaurant area are steadily filling up.
Having enjoyed a drink in the bar (a cocktail for my partner, and a glass of crisp English sparkling wine for me) we’re shown through to our table, which faces the large hatch to the open kitchen beyond. The first of our paired wines is a Joseph Perrier Champagne. Joseph Perrier is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, and while I did enjoy the English sparkling wine I started the evening with, at this point I realise the difference an extra 180 years of practise makes when it comes to wine making.
We’re booked in for the eight-course tasting menu, but what with canapés, little extras and petit fours, it feels like more than that. We’ve also chosen to do the wine pairing, and throughout the evening we’re poured generous servings of the sommelier’s choices. Alongside our Champagne, our canapés include a disc of purple beetroot meringue topped with a sliver of beetroot, cured trout, nasturtium mayo and trout roe, and a finger of brioche French toast with airy chicken liver parfait and a sprinkling of gingerbread crumb. It’s a great way to start, and sets a high bar for the evening.
Our next course (described as ‘cheddar, onion, ale’ on the menu) turns out to be something like a savoury custard cream (and I do mean that as a compliment) – Montgomery cheddar biscuits with onion chutney, topped with burnt onion powder. Alongside these there’s a fabulous onion custard, topped with crunchy crumbs.
Our next wine is one of my favourites of the night – an Italian red reminiscent of a pinot noir. Seeded rye bread is served with two spreads – one butter, and one a rich beef pâté – and then comes a truly delicious Shorthorn tartare, accompanied by a vibrantly green wild garlic mayo and crispy potato.
A dry German Mosel riesling accompanies our fish course of North Sea halibut with cucumber, topped with deep-fried oyster and served with a crispy potato square and green ketchup. A main course of rare breed pork is served with stuffed Morel, Wye Valley asparagus and a totally unnecessary but completely moreish dish of creamed potato to share.
Slightly apprehensive that we still have three courses to go, at this point we go against type and choose to skip the cheese. Desserts include a financier soaked in Early Grey syrup with a lemon curd centre, lemon foam and Early Grey meringue, plus a beautiful rhubarb sorbet with ginger ice cream. Finally, we’re presented with petit fours which are almost too pretty to eat (including a decadent square of Irish coffee fudge).
The whole menu here makes brilliant use of local ingredients, and by the time we get back to Netherby Hall we’re keen to get another look at the Walled Garden to see just where some of this produce comes from.
In the morning, having made the most of our apartment’s kitchen to fuel up for the day, we check out of Netherby Hall and go exploring Hadrian’s Wall. This part of the country is home to perhaps one of the best-preserved and excavated stretches of the Wall, so we start at Birdoswald (where the foundations of a major Roman fort can still be seen) and make our way along a couple of miles of Wall to Gilsland, stopping for a cold drink in a friendly café in the village before looping back to Birdoswald via a quiet road, a few fields and a pretty wooded valley filled with bluebells.
After this we feel we deserve some lunch, so we head into the town of Brampton. There are plenty of people in the market place on this sunny (if cool) Saturday, and the pub we choose for lunch is already busy with groups of friends and families enjoying one of the first nice days of the year. We can’t miss the chance to explore Cranston’s Food Hall while we’re here, and, having examined the shelves of goodies (both local and from further afield), we leave with a bag packed full of pasta, olives, bread, preserves and sweet treats.
It’s only a short drive from the centre of Brampton to our home for tonight at Farlam Hall. On checking in, we’re shown to a gorgeous little cottage by the brook which runs through the hotel’s grounds – just a minute’s walk from the main hotel, but totally private (it’s dog-friendly too, with an enclosed garden of its own and dog bowls waiting in the kitchen). The decor is chic, with a serene air throughout the spacious rooms, which include a large bedroom with ensuite, a separate living room with stove and a full kitchen (out the back of which is a pretty patio with table and chairs). After a restorative cup of tea, we get ready for dinner and walk up to the white-fronted hotel. Seated by the open fire in the lounge, we start with cocktails.
We’re here to try the hotel’s Cedar Tree Restaurant, which holds a Michelin star and has the renowned chef Hrishikesh Desai at the helm. Foodies who have followed his stellar career will know that this isn’t the first star he’s achieved, and we’re looking forward to seeing what he’s created at Farlam Hall.
We don’t have long to wait, as our first course of snacks is brought straight to our table in the lounge. The first is Farlam Hall garden beetroot, which has gone through a process of ‘spherification’ and sits, shining, on a silver spoon – as it slides into your mouth, it bursts into something like a spiced beetroot soup. Alongside this, a small cone is packed with garbanzo bean chat (my partner declares that he could happily eat a whole bowl of this).
In the smart restaurant, the tables are dressed in white linen and a perfectly chilled bottle of Austrian Grüner Veltliner awaits us. Our next course is mackerel tartar with jalapeño mayo, plus a small tartlet of duck parfait with strawberry and a jalapeño jam. These are flavours you don’t often see combined (and certainly not in a country house hotel in Cumbria) and it’s a revelation – sweet, savoury, spicy and smooth all at once. Nor have I tried satay spiced Cornish lobster claw mousse before, but again it works perfectly – smooth and warming and rich.
The bread course comes next, and is perhaps the best one we’ve ever tried. Milk bread, poolish bread and a laminated brioche are served with butter, green chilli butter and dishes of pav bhaji – a vegetarian street food of spiced vegetables. The delicious green chilli butter arrives disguised as a red chilli on a white plate (complete with green stalk), and on tearing open the brioche we discover that this is stuffed with more of the buttery pav bhaji. Normally half way through a tasting menu we try to avoid eating too much bread, but this time we don’t waste a thing.
Next, a poached fillet of cod sits on a pea and tarragon purée with chorizo, petit pois and a rich emulsion, and there’s more richness to follow with the next course of ‘F2 Highland wagyu’ – the butteriest, most tender beef, served perfectly pink.
Luckily our first dessert is a refreshing raw mango sorbet topped with a light coconut foam, which sets us up nicely for a pretty dish of baked Wigmore cheesecake with Yorkshire rhubarb and ginger.
At this point we retire to the lounge to nibble our petit fours (including homemade sugar-coated donuts and cheese and carrot tartlets) and discuss which courses have been our favourites. Returning to our cottage by the beck, we sleep soundly with the windows open to the quiet Cumbrian night.
The next morning we’re determined to explore a little more of this stretch of countryside. After breakfast in the hotel’s dining room (a full English for my partner and eggs Royale for me) we set off to walk to Talkin’ Tarn. This is a gentle walk along country roads, lanes and well-marked footpaths, and we reach the tarn in good time. Once there we circuit the glacial lake and end up near the main entrance and café, where there are lots of families and dog walkers making the most of the morning, alongside keen sorts dressed for kayaking and rowing. From here, we strike out through the woods, leaving the water behind, and make our way back towards Farlam Hall along country lanes. By the time we get there we’ve walked six miles.
It seems a good idea, therefore, to delay our departure from Farlam Hall and instead head into the hotel for Sunday lunch. After a restorative (and pleasantly spicy) Bloody Mary with smoked paprika salt, I choose chicken liver parfait, which is beautifully presented and comes with toasted brioche, strawberry and jalapeño chutney and hazelnuts. My partner orders home-smoked salmon with a dill and potato cake, cucumber, horseradish and buttermilk sauce. True to form, we both order beef for our main courses. It’s served pink, with all the trimmings you’d hope for (including fat roasties and cauliflower cheese, and lashings of rich gravy). Finally: cheese (including beautiful Wensleydale blue) which comes with crackers, chutney, celery, grapes, bread… we are finally defeated. At this point, we’re sorry to leave Farlam Hall, but delighted that we’ve discovered such outstanding talent so close to home.
