“Who likes green beans so much we have to fly them from Kenya?” wonders Bob Keegan of the restaurant-with-rooms Ashlack Hall. Wasteful global-supply chains have long bothered him. So when the Ballymaloe-trained chef set up shop in his family’s 17th-century house, he and his partner Jenna Freak went the other way. Much of what guests eat here comes from their 500-acre hill farm. Most of the rest is grown nearby, and the experience of staying and eating here is so deeply connected to the leafy Cumbrian valley you’ll feel yourself subconsciously putting down roots.
Overall score 9/10
Main photo: Ashlack Hall hotel in Grizebeck, Cumbria
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Rooms and suites
Score 7/10
After a long and chequered history, Ashlack walks a fine line between a humble farmhouse and a country mansion — as overdressed as a shepherd in silk breeches, and just as memorable. Downstairs, the guest wing features a parlour of baronial grandeur, alongside a suite of much lower-slung rooms. Several are decorated with soft, Titian-inspired portraits by Bob’s talented sister, VJ Keegan. Meanwhile, the three big bedrooms upstairs (bookable through Airbnb) are bright, white and, in places, properly eccentric. The West Wing mezzanine suite is equipped with two half-naked nymphs supporting a giant lintel. They come, apparently, from Bradford town hall. Nearby, the bridal suite features fine wood panelling and an elegant four-poster. All three offer comfort and peace rather than five-star luxury. At this price (from £99 B&B) that’s exactly what you’d hope for.
Food and drink
Score 9/10
Dinner is a six-course, £65, bring-your-own-bottle affair, made exceptional not just by the quality of the cooking but also by Bob and Jenna’s unvarnished introductions. “We killed our first bullock last week,” was Bob’s introduction to a series of uncommonly good dishes, which made use of everything: liver pâté with syrup, beef skirt with romesco sauce, and a deep-fried cheek that was as comforting as a warm pair of socks. Whatever’s fresh from the kitchen garden adds to the sense of right-here, right-now immediacy.
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What else is there?
Score 9/10
There’s no spa or gym. But you’ve got everything you need to enrich your encounter with south Cumbria. Turn right at the front door, and you can wander up a track towards Heathwaite Fell to make your acquaintance with Bob and Jenna’s 750 sheep. Turn left and you’ll meet their Tamworth pigs as you walk down to the banks of the Grize Beck.
Where is it?
Score 9/10
Five minutes’ drive from the farm lies the Duddon Mosses National Nature Reserve. Half an hour further on, the serene and graceful river Esk coils past Ravenglass. This is an intriguing and undervisited part of the Lake District, characterised as much by reed beds and estuaries as crags and bracken.
Price B&B doubles from £99
Restaurant £65 per person for six-course dinner menu
Family-friendly N
Dog-friendly Y
Accessible N
ashlack.com
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