The Lovely Lake District- Part 2

Seeing as we had fulfilled our main objective for the trip on our first day, it was decided that days 2 and 3 would be food/drink based around our bellies! Starting as we meant to go on therefore, after a breakfast fit for kings in the beautiful dining room of our hotel, The Ennerdale Country House Hotel, we gathered our bits and pieces and intend the car in the direction of Cockermouth, our first destination of the day. Cockermouth was circled in our mapbook because it’s where all the magic happens……it’s home to Jennings Brewery 👏

   

We’d been enjoying the Cumberland Ale, and on visiting the brewery, we were able to try some of their other, equally delicious beers in their onsite pub/tea rooms.  

   

You may notice that the glasses have Marstons on- the reason for this is that Marstons have just recently bought out Jennings.. So interesting times ahead. Keith said his favourite was the “Cocky Blonde”…… Now, back to the beer….! He also liked the “Sneck Lifter” but that was a bit strong for pre 12:00 drinkies 🙂  

 We didn’t do the brewery tour as we had Jazz with us, but did stock up on some bottles of Ale to bring home. Looking forward to tucking into those sometime soon! Seeing as we still had 45 mins on our parking ticket, and the weather wasn’t brilliant, we felt it would have been rude not to have a quick look at their flagship pub, The Bush Inn, on Cockermouth’s high street (I must add, I was In charge of the wheels so had soft drinks- made up for it in the evenings though!) The Bush Inn was listed on my dog friendly app and the landlord went out of his way to make us feel welcome. It was a great place to spend half and hour- full of locals and nice to watch the world go by. 

  
Next stop was the picturesque road from Cockermouth down the side of Crummock water and onto Buttermere. We’d done this drive a couple of times before in Bluebell- it’s a lovely drive.  

Another place, another pub- as you can see the weather wasn’t so good, so it was nice to have a leisurely drive. We had a drink at The Bridge hotel, Buttermere, another dog friendly establishment and had a nice chat with another couple with a dog, and eyed up the delicious looking meals being sent out to those that were eating. We’d already made our decision to have our main meal mid afternoon at The Fox and Hounds in Ennerdale Bridge, but the prawn sandwiches and chips looked so good that we vowed to pop in tomorrow for lunch! 
   
Our final stop for the day was  The Fox and Hounds in Ennerdale Bridge. This had made its way onto our list as it was the flagship pub for The Ennderdale Brewery, brewers of the enjoyable Ennerdale Blonde we’d been enjoying at our hotel. It’s a very cosy and traditional community owned and run pub, and the food was exceptional. I had Pork belly soaked in Ennerdale beer and Keith and Cumberland Sausage ring and mash. Its a popular spot for walkers on the Coast to Coast trail, not to mention cyclists, locals and even the Ennerdale brewery  chap was there too. 

   
  

  
A fabulous afternoon was spent there- luckily we (I*) only had 3 miles to drive us back to the hotel where I rolled up the stairs into bed for a 2 hour snooze!! Bizarrely enough the only thing that woke us was the sunshine through the window- another first for The Lake District, and so we had drinks in the hotel gardens before being piggy and devouring yet another gorgeous meal!!  
     

^ a pint of Ennerdale Blonde for Keefy and a beefeaters G&T for me- well it was World Gin Day!

 ^ Lady of the manor!! Haha 
The next morning and the sun was still shining- we enjoyed another lovely breakfast, albeit a somewhat lighter affair after our major pig out yesterday. I had smoked salmon and scrambled eggs and Keith tried the poached haddock in milk.  We got the best seat in the house!

Today’s plan was a picturesque drive from Grasemere to Buttermere via the Honister Pass. We took the scenic Route- The B5289 through Rosthwaite and alongside the stunning Derwentwater. Absolutely beautiful- I’ll let the pics oaint the picture so to speak… 

  
^Grasmere

 ^Looking across to Helvellyn
   
^Derwentwater – totally reminded us of Loch Lomond
   

  

  

 ^Ashness Bridge, looking over Borrowdale

   

  

  

  

  

  ^ Surprise View– looking over Derwentwater and Borrowdale. 

   
  

  

 

^Watendlath Tarn and Hamlet

   
           

^ Bowder Stone– a 30ft free standing erratic stone- fantastic!! It defied gravity!!! 

 ^Pit stop at Scafell Hotel, Rosthwaite 
   
  

           

^Honister Pass 

   

  

  

 ^Buttermere 

   

  

 ^Pit Stop- and mighty fine it was too- we had Toffee apple and Chocolate. Mmmmm🍦 

I got the inspiration for the above car tour Here and we loved it. There was lots to see, and handily located National Trust car parks at each location. We paid £4 for a parking ticket which was transferable between all car parks- a nice touch, although National Trust members can park  for free.  

We couldn’t have asked for a better finish to our short break, despite piling on a few pounds hahaha ( we ate and drank like kings and queens!!)  Keith is still raving about Cumbrian Ale- it has such a delicious creamy taste. Yum. 

So concludes another tour, as much as we enjoyed doing the hotel/car thing we missed the motorhome for sureand  are looking forward to our next proper road trip/mini break- hopefully in a couple of weeks! Just need to fix ourselves up with a couple of new bikes and we will be sorted 🚲

Stay tuned, until next time 

Lx