The Lake District might be the Michelin Star hotspot of the UK but not any old diner can say they’re staying upstairs while they’re digging into food foraged from the surrounding Lakeland fells and the hotel’s on-site kitchen garden.
The Forest Site hotel has long stood out as one of the most saught-after stays in the Lakes, even within a national park bursting with award-winning hotels and some of the finest dining the country has to offer.
Food is served in a bright and airy restaurant overlooking pristine grounds and distant golden hills, and there are plenty of cosy corners for kicking back with a cocktail and Cluedo beside a roaring fire.
From dog-friendly bedrooms fit for the whole family to welcoming staff who’ll suggest local hikes and dry your walking boots after, this is everything you need to know.
Where is it?
Nestled into the hillside right in the heart of Wordsworth country, just off the road from Grasmere to Keswick — and only a five-minute stroll from the poet’s beloved Grasmere and its pubs, Michelin-star restaurants and famous Gingerbread Shop.
Ambleside, the town many consider to be the heart of the Lakes, is just a 10 minute drive away.
Style
Steep sloping woodland. Traditional Lake District stone and original Victorian features. Views of the sun rising over the mountains from bed. Forest Side has quickly become one of the most stylish and desirable hotels in the Lake District and the reason is obvious from the moment you turn into the drive and see the glowing yellow windows welcoming you in through the trees.
The grand Victorian building dates back to 1853 and became a holiday destination almost a century ago in 1925, when the Co-operative Holidays Association took over as owner and used it as a destination for organised trips to the countryside for young working-class people as an escape from growing industrialisation.
The mansion and its grounds became a hotel at the end of the twentieth century and in 2014 it became the Forest Side guests see today, with rooms returned to their original size and glory.
Rooms are decked out with Zoffany fabrics, local Herdwick wool carpets and Farrow and Ball paint and there’s a brilliant light-filled dining space downstairs with views over the terrace. Charming details include dining tables made from local Kendal wood and plates printed with leaves.
Next door, expect cosy lounge areas with Cole and Son wallpaper, luxury Zoffany fabrics and traditional log fires for sitting back next to with a pre-dinner cocktail.
Which room?
Each of Forest Side’s 20 bedrooms is named after a type of tree growing in the garden, and they are surprisingly light and airy for an old gothic mansion: think glorious Farrow and Ball paint and elegant plant-filled windows looking out over the mountain tops next to the bed - which is lucky, because you won’t want to come out from under the covers. Harrison Spinks, a designer in Leeds, made the beds exclusively for Wildsmith Hotels and each one contains more than 10,000 springs.
Rooms come in Cosy, Superb and Master sizes, from grand master suites with balconies overlooking the mountains to the six dog-friendly rooms in the hotel’s north wing (all four-legged visitors receive a welcome pack featuring a personalised welcome letter, a dog bed, two dog bowls (water and food) and a selection of tasty treats to help them settle in).
Larger rooms have a walk-in shower and a separate bath for soaking - crucial after a long day in walking boots. Others have baths and showers combined, while the cosy rooms have a single walk-in shower. Bramley bathroom products are provided in each one.
The hotel’s Stay & Dine package includes a four-course Michelin-star dinner, overnight stay and full Cumbrian breakfast the next morning for £349. Keep an eye out for a ‘cake of the day’ left out in your room each afternoon.
Food & drink
Come for the location, stay for the food. Forest Side’s menu is a winning combination of Michelin-star quality and local goodness: 80 per cent of food here comes from the on-site garden, from the mint on your pink grapefruit in the morning to G&Ts infused with leftover veg later on (ask for the Sugar Snap pea Gin or Jerusalem Artichoke Vodka as a pre-dinner thirst-quencher).
The highlight of any stay at Forest Side are the four- or eight-course tasting menus, which draw a keen nighttime crowd of guests and locals keen to sample head chef Paul Leonard’s cuisine for themselves.
Each dish uses seasonal ingredients and is artfully-presented in a chic, natural way: highlights include beetroot cooked all day in its own juice with whipped cod’s roe; monkfish roasted in winter tarn butter with wild garlic; salt-aged duck roasted on the crown with morels glazed in truffle juice.
Wine pairing is essential - if you can keep up - and it’s worth booking in for the miniature start-of-dinner ‘snacks’ alone. Each tartlet and melted cheese bite is perfectly formed, bursting with flavour and far exceeding snack status. Even the butter is exquisite, topped with herbs and laid out like a bouquet on local stone.
Breakfast, like dinner, is so pretty you could paint it, with fresh rainbow fruit salads, miniature homemade crumpets dripping with butter and beautifully thick hunks of Cartmel Valley smoked salmon laid out elegantly on the plate.
Start with the whisky and honey porridge then the Full Cumbrian Breakfast with Lakeland free range eggs if you’ve got a big walking day ahead. There’s Bucks Fizz and Delamotte Champagne on the menu if you’re celebrating or just feeling boujie.
Facilities
You won’t get luxury subterranean spas or sweeping sports facilities but you will get homely cosiness, Michelin-star food and some of the best natural facilities in the country right on the doorstep.
Lounge areas are loaded with Cluedo, chess and backgammon for after-dinner games. There are gorgeous on-site gardens with miniature waterfalls if you fancy a quick pre-dinner stroll to stretch your legs after the car journey. The fellside on which the hotel is built is home to a herd of roe deer, red squirrels and native plant species, including foxgloves, wood sorrel and sommon sorrel.
Walking-wise, there are pamphlets with short hiking routes available at the reception desk by the front door and welcoming staff will take your wet walking boots to the drying room on your arrival back at base.
Best for?
Foodies with walking legs. Challenge yourself to a climb up High Raise or Helvellyan and you’ll (almost) be able to justify the Michelin-star eight-course tasting menu that evening. Almost.
How to get there
Jump in the car from London and you’ll be there in just over five hours (on a good day) and combine it with a stay at sister hotel Hipping Hall in the Yorkshire Dales if you fancy a night breaking up the journey - the perfect way to explore two of the country’s wildest national parks in one weekend.
Take the 5.5-hour train from Euston to Windermere if you don’t have a car. It’s a 20-minute taxi at the other end.
When should I go?
Whenever you can get a booking, depending on your tolerance to snowy peaks and keeness for an adventure.
There’s plenty on the doorstep whatever the time of year, but spring and summer will heighten your chances of making it to the top of a mountain without catching frostbite.
Book in for a lake paddleboarding session if the weather’s warm, and walking is a must whatever the weather. You can loop Easedale Tarn nearby in three-hours if you fancy some easy waterside views, while nearby peak High Raise is a five to six hour hike you can do on foot from the hotel if you fancy a challenge.
Award-winning guided-tour operator Mountain Goat has been taking tourists on adventures in the area for 50 years and is a great option if you don’t fancy braving the mountains on your own.
