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Hutton-in-the-Forest Private Tour
A few miles from Skelton — the closest thing we run to a doorstep day for this table.
See dates & bookA family-run village pub in Skelton with a Michelin star is exactly the sort of thing this county keeps producing and nobody outside it quite believes. It is also east of the fells, near Penrith, which means the day around it needs planning in the Eden Valley rather than the central Lakes.
Quick Facts
Owned and run by the Queen-Fryer family since 2017, with chef-owner Ben Queen-Fryer in the kitchen. The cooking is unshowy and precise, built almost entirely on Cumbrian sourcing — lamb from the next village, fish landed at Maryport, Cartmel Valley venison, cheese and yoghurt from farms you could drive to in twenty minutes.
It remains a pub, which is a good deal of the pleasure of it. Michelin's own note described it as unashamedly old-fashioned, and meant it kindly.
Skelton is a few miles north-west of Penrith, which is around an hour from Windermere whichever way you go. Kirkstone and Ullswater is the beautiful route and the slow one; the A6 or the motorway is quicker and duller.
There are no rooms here, so unlike most of the restaurants in this collection, staying put is not an option. The return journey needs planning properly.
Keep the day east. Our Dalemain private tour and the Hutton-in-the-Forest private tour are both in this corner of Cumbria — Hutton is only a few miles from Skelton, which makes it the natural pairing.
Trying to fit a central Lakes tour and a Skelton table into the same day means two hours in the car around the meal. It can be done. It is not a holiday.
Penrith is the nearest town for taxis and accommodation, about fifteen minutes away, and is the practical base for an evening here. Book the return before you travel.
A few miles from Skelton — the closest thing we run to a doorstep day for this table.
See dates & bookThe historic house on the Ullswater side of Penrith, keeping the whole day east of the fells.
See dates & bookBuilt around the geography rather than against it, finishing where you are eating. From £459 per group.
See dates & bookPenrith and the Ullswater villages are the practical bases. Our Ullswater and Northern Lakes accommodation guides cover the area, and the starred restaurants guide sets out which of the thirteen are realistically inside a Lakes holiday.
No rooms are published — it is a pub and restaurant rather than an inn with rooms. Penrith, about fifteen minutes away, is the practical base for an evening here.
About an hour from Windermere, either over Kirkstone and past Ullswater or round via the A6 and the motorway.
The Hutton-in-the-Forest private tour is only a few miles away, and the Dalemain private tour is on the Ullswater side of Penrith. Both keep the day east of the fells.
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