Eating out in Hawkeshead

We took ourselves out for the day yesterday to explore the lower lakes of the Lake District and ended up in Hawkeshead around lunchtime. This is a village we have explored on our previous visits to Cumbria and have always enjoyed. With it's cobbled streets and quaint buildings, it's warm and welcoming and situated pretty much in the centre of the Lakes. You can read more about it here if you wish.

Of course it was lunchtime when we landed here and we were both starving, which can be somewhat difficult if the weather is not all the best and you have a rambunctious Cocker Spaniel in tow. What is nice though is that most pubs in this area don't mind you bringing a dog into the drinking area, and will also serve food in that area in a lot of cases. We chose to have our lunch in the Queen's Head Hotel, which is a delightful 16th century pub/B&B, situated right in the centre of the village. Apparently this pub was standing when Wordsworth was a lad.



I have found that most Bed and Breakfast Pubs serve very good food. This pub was not bad at all. They had a full menu, catering to most people's tastes with everything from the affordable to the ultimate in dining experience foods. If you wanted you could get a Filet Steak dinner, which was £25 . . . a tad bit beyond our budget I believe.

We both decided to have the fish and chips, having already feasted on Cumberland sausage the night before. When Todd went to order he was asked did he want the small, regular or large. He chose the regular portion and boy oh boy!! Were we surprised.



We were nicely situated with Mitzie laying comfortably at our feet when I saw a waitress bearing down on us with two huge platters, upon which lay . . . the largest pieces of battered fish I have ever come across!

Beer Battered Haddock and chips . . . the chips hand cut . . . the batter crisp and light . . . and mushy peas . . . delicately flavoured with mint. We were like two kids in a candy store and thoroughly enjoyed all £8.50 of our lunches (each). Yes, it was a bit expensive for Fish and Chips . . . but then again the atmosphere and service were great and the food was . . . well . . . most deliciously Sumptious!



I just wish I had thought to take a picture of the moistly delicious insides of our fish . . . but to be honest we were starving and it was sooooo scrummy that I was completely distracted by the eating. Best fish and chips I have had in a long while (next to my own homemade beer battered fish recipe) and that is saying something!! When we got back to our cottage last night, both of us were so filled up that we daren't eat anything else. Ok . . . we did munch on a couple of bowls of cheerios and some buttered toast, but a full scale meal was quite honestly out of the question!



Today we are off to the Northern Lakes.

If you would like to read what I have to say about Dragons today and see some quite stunning scenery, do pop off to the Cottage to find out more.