L'Enclume's rooms are scattered through Cartmel rather than gathered in one building, which means a stay here is a stay in the village itself. The restaurant holds three Michelin stars — the first in the North of England to do so — along with a Michelin Green Star for sustainability, and it occupies a former blacksmith's shop whose building goes back to the thirteenth century. This guide covers the daylight hours.
Quick Facts
Simon Rogan opened L'Enclume in 2002 in a village most people had never heard of, and took a first Michelin star in 2005, a second in 2013 and a third in 2022 — the first restaurant in the North of England to hold three. The Green Star alongside is arguably the more interesting one: it recognises sustainability, and it exists here because of Our Farm, the twelve-acre holding in the Cartmel Valley that supplies the kitchen with produce picked the same morning.
The name means 'the anvil', for the blacksmith's shop the restaurant occupies. The anvil is still in the dining room.
It is genuinely unusual: a village of a few hundred people containing a three-star restaurant, a second Michelin-starred restaurant in Rogan & Co, the Aulis chef's table, a shop, and development kitchens. Room bookings include breakfast at Rogan & Co. If you are here for the food, you can eat extremely well for several days without leaving the village — and Simon Rogan's Henrock at Linthwaite House is up at Bowness if you want a fourth.
Cartmel Priory was founded around 1190 and by rights should have been destroyed with the rest in the 1530s. It survived because part of the building had long served as the parish church, and the villagers argued — successfully — that they could not lose their church. The monastic buildings went; the great church stayed, and it is still in use. It takes twenty minutes and it is free, and the fifteenth-century east window alone justifies the walk.
Cartmel Racecourse runs a handful of National Hunt meetings a year through the village fields, and they have the character of a village fete that got out of hand. If your dates coincide, book everything else well ahead. Holker Hall, a short drive off, has award-winning gardens and one of the finest Victorian interiors in the north — and we run tours there.
Our scheduled tours depart Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1 and Ambleside library — around forty minutes north. Oxenholme, for our full-day tours, is a similar run. From Cartmel a private day collected at the door is generally the easier arrangement.
The grand sweep: ten lakes, the high passes between them, and an Ullswater Steamers cruise exclusive to this tour. If a celebration stay deserves one great day out, this is it.
See dates & bookCollected at the door, your party only, the day shaped to you — literary landscapes, hidden valleys, or simply the most beautiful roads we know. Well-behaved dogs are welcome aboard in our vehicle crates.
Enquire about a private dayDove Cottage at Grasmere — entry included as standard — and the valleys that made the poems, with Dora's Field carpeted gold in daffodil season. The right literary day for this most Georgian of addresses.
See dates & bookAcross the lake to Hill Top and Near Sawrey, with our illustration-matching walk through the village lanes — back for a long lakeside lunch.
See dates & bookThe afternoon version crosses the lake by boat rather than by road — worth choosing if you'd like the crossing itself to be part of the day.
See dates & bookA slow hall morning, then eight lakes and their valleys at a seven-seat pace — the most civilised way to spend a Lakeland afternoon.
See dates & bookThe same eight lakes as the afternoon tour, run the opposite way round in the morning — ideal if you'd rather keep your afternoon free for the lawns.
See dates & bookA full literary day east to Haworth — the Parsonage, the cobbled village, and the moors that gave Wuthering Heights its weather, newly magnetic with the recent film. Oxenholme pickup available.
See dates & bookInto the Dales for Grassington's "Darrowby", the Wensleydale Creamery, Kilnsey Crag and Bolton Abbey — filming locations brought to life around you with live scene technology.
See dates & bookOur Farm moves onto its autumn harvest through October, and the effect on the tasting menu is one of the more interesting reasons to time a stay for this season — game, roots and the last of the orchard fruit appearing across all four Rogan kitchens in the village at once, each dish carrying the particular earthiness of a Cartmel Valley autumn. Cartmel Racecourse runs some of its best-attended National Hunt fixtures of the year through the autumn and into winter — hooves thundering past, the crowd roaring, the whole village briefly transformed — so check the calendar before booking if you want the quieter version instead.
The priory, meanwhile, is arguably at its best now: the great east window catching low, honeyed autumn light and scattering it across eight hundred years of stone, and the churchyard trees turning slowly overhead, leaves drifting down onto ancient graves. Step inside on a cold afternoon and the contrast is immediate — the chill outside giving way to something older and stiller, centuries of quiet held in the walls.
From Cartmel a private day saves the drive north entirely — collected at the door, no departure time, and the route shaped around your party. It also means nobody has to think about driving home after dinner. Well-behaved dogs are welcome aboard, travelling safely in our vehicle crates.
Not sure which route suits your plans, or want a day built entirely from scratch — a family reunion, a wedding anniversary, scattering ashes somewhere that mattered? Tell us what you have in mind and we'll design a day around it — see our guide to celebrating a special occasion for ideas, or get in touch directly.
Three, plus a Michelin Green Star for sustainability. The stars came in 2005, 2013 and 2022, making it the first restaurant in the North of England to hold three.
Scattered around Cartmel rather than in one building, all within walking distance of the restaurant. Bookings include breakfast at Rogan & Co.
A great deal for its size — Rogan & Co is also Michelin-starred, Aulis is the chef's table, and the village pubs are good.
Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1 and Ambleside library, around forty minutes north. On private tours we can usually collect you at the door — which also means nobody needs to drive after dinner.
We are an independent local tour operator. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by L'Enclume.