The Cottage In The Wood Restaurant
Ian Jones, Food and Drink Editor
You’ll find The Cottage In The Wood 1000ft above sea level in Whinlatter Forest in the Lake District. It’s a Michelin-star restaurant that serves some of the region’s most inventive and downright delicious dishes, where everything is as locally sourced and sustainable as possible.
You can make a visit to the restaurant in its own right, but for the full experience, we recommend an overnight stay – or two, as you can try a different tasting menu the next day.
The whole place is headed up by Beth and Jack Bond, who took charge at the start of the year and come with an impressive pedigree, involving stints at Tredwell’s, Gilpin’s Source restaurant, Claridges and more, plus guidance from the likes of Marcus Waring.
A meal here is a more relaxed affair than some of the more buttoned-up high-end restaurants in the area, ably aided by the delightfully engaging staff. Our advice: turn up early and enjoy a glass of fizz outside – towering Cumbrian mountains to your left, red squirrels running up and down trees to your right.
First, a delicate amuse-bouche: sage-green broad bean hummus, dotted with bright yellow edible flowers and tiny citrus baubles, scooped up with a paper-thin potato tuile. It’s an outstanding introduction and it’s not even listed on the menu.
The first course proper is chawanmushi, the Japanese savoury custard that’s enjoying its time in the sun right now, topped with a multicoloured array of local heirloom tomatoes and basil. That marvellous smokey taste? That’s charcoal used in the kitchen, repurposed and made into a light dressing.
And that’s the beauty of The Cottage In The Wood. The dishes are innovative but timeless, all at the same time. It’s completely in sync with this beautiful location and showcases just how vital UK cooking can be, and has been for centuries.
Each course brings a new level of pastoral pleasure. The locally caught mackerel is soft as butter, superbly complemented by the note-perfect addition of compressed cucumber, crème fraîche, horseradish and dill.
From here, the menu weaves through some of the finest examples of the British culinary landscape, including Allerdale goat’s cheese, North Sea monkfish and, naturally, the nation’s most acclaimed lamb, Herdwicks – which you’ll almost certainly see happily foraging around nearby hills.
As tasting menus go, it’s up there with the Lake District’s very best. The whole experience is gloriously serene, with a bucolic charm that you won’t find anywhere else.
