The Lake District is brimming with places to eat. Here’s a selection of decent, close-by places. Please let us know other good ones you come across! All pubs will take dogs and we’ve marked the restaurants that do too. 

Nearby

Eagle & Child Pub, Staveley - a lovely pub with good ales and food. We time it an 80 minute walk from the house. You could call a taxi to take you back home. Check ahead as some weeknights they don't serve food. 

Wilf's Cafe, Staveley - great for a hot snack during the day

More Artisan Bakery, Staveley - with cafe attached. Fantastic food especially the hot sandwiches, pies, bread, cakes, marmalade…

Mr Duffin's Coffee, Staveley - roast their own coffee beans, we provide one of their roasts for guests

Watermill Inn, Ings - really good pub food and very cheery service

Lakeland Farm Visitors Centre, Ings - the café gets rave reviews from our house manager. Also a small gift shop (incl a butcher) and activities you can sign up to like dry stone walling courses

Kendal

In Kendal there are numerous places to eat. The old coffee merchant Farrers has a nice café on the high street, and tucked away down a side alley but worth seeking out for lunch is the excellent veggie deli Baba Ganoush. 

2 Sisters at Plumgarths - lovely quirky daytime cafe with great food at Plumgarths which also has artisan food stores. Located on the big roundabout on the main road to Kendal

West of Kendal

Strickland Arms, Sizergh Castle - decent food, nice pub with log fires. Dogs welcome

The Wild Boar, Crook - a bit smarter, excellent food. Dogs allowed in bar

Black Labrador, Underbarrow - this used to be called the Punch Bowl but kept being confused with the below. A short drive beyond Crook this has excellent food in a restaurant-feel converted barn next to the main pub, and it takes dogs. Booking advised. 

The Punch Bowl, Crossthwaite - smarter restaurant with rooms, very good food. 2 dog friendly tables.  Booking generally required.

South of Kendal

Two nice brunch/lunch places just south of Kendal are Levens Kitchen (the cafe at Levens Hall house and gardens) and the cafe at Beethams Nursery just south of Milnthorpe. Both have outdoor seating, weather permitting. Dogs aren't allowed in the inside area.

Windermere and Ambleside

Lakeland Store Cafe, Windermere - great for lunch or afternoon tea, dogs welcome. 

Chesters by the River, Skelwith Bridge - dog friendly, also a store attached. Not good in high season at lunchtime when it's raining, when it's a fight for a table (it's cafeteria style and there is no booking). Best if you are taking the food away, or dropping in for tea and cake. 

Waterhead coffee shop - on the waterfront in Ambleside does good cream teas

The Golden Rule, Ambleside - there are many pubs in Ambleside but this one hidden away on a side street is a real-ale must. Don't expect much in the way of food!

Takeaways

Staveley Chippy and next door pizza place - but be careful it closes relatively early, or More Bakery does fantastic hot sandwiches and pies to take away, but again won't be open in the evenings. There's also a chippy (Jolly Fryer)  in neighbouring Burneside. Windermere is your best bet for Chinese or Curry (also sit-down) where there are a bunch clustered just below the station - Prince of India, or Golden Mountain. For Thai, Jintana in either Kendal or Ambleside.

Special treat

Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume in Cartmel, just south of the Lake District National Park is a two-star Michelin riverside restaurant that also boasts a chef’s table ‘Aulis’ for that extra culinary experience. Closer to home fine dining can be had at the Samling Hotel between Windermere and Ambleside, Lake Road Kitchen in Ambleside, The Forest Side near Grasmere, the Gilpin Hotel between Staveley and Bowness (named after the Kentmere ‘lords of the manor’), and the Punch Bowl Inn (a ‘restaurant with rooms’) at Crossthwaite, just beyond Crook.

And we've not tried him but our House Manager recently spotted The Cumbrian Chef, a private chef if you'd like to be served dinner at home.