A Night in the Lake District and Yewfield Guest House

The Lake District has always been one of my favourite places to visit - it is quintessentially British with beautiful old Tudor and slate buildings, has the most wonderful views of rolling hills and lakesides and every little village or town that you visit just oozes character, no wonder it was recently given a UNESCO World Heritage status. Windemere, one of the most popular areas to visit in the Lake District is England's biggest lake and Scafell Pike, which attracts thousands of tourists each year is England's highest mountain. The Lake District was also once home to (in my opinion) one of the best children's authors that ever lived, Beatrix Potter. There's so much to do and see in the Lake District, making it the perfect place to visit.

Last week, my husband and I had a week off work and decided to head up to the Lake District for a few peaceful days in the countryside. We visited Ambleside, Windermere and Hawkshead and stayed in the beautiful Yewfield Guest House which was kindly organised by the team at Go Lakes, the Cumbrian Tourist board. We were truly blessed with the weather - it was sunny and warm and the perfect weather for rambling, taking boat rides and eating copious amounts of ice-cream.  We arrived at Bowness on Windermere at lunchtime and after browsing a few of the shops, we headed to the lake to catch a boat ride to Ambleside with Windermere Lake Cruises. The boat we caught was one of the older steam yachts, the M.V Tern which was built in 1891. The Tern still exhibits some of the original Victorian features, but now has a modern engine to deal with the vast amount of tourists that catch this boat every half an hour, 364 days a year.  Our trip to Ambleside took around 35 minutes and through the duration of the journey, we had a guided tour who told us all about the history of lakes and nearby points of interest.

We disembarked at Waterhead and made our way up to the village. It was a twenty minute scenic walk which passes by a lot of the local farm life and villages, as well as a beautiful Borrans Park, which is perfect for a picnic. Once we got to Ambleside, we had a coffee at one of the many coffee shops and had a quick look around the village, before heading back to the boat and getting back into the car to visit Yewfield.

Yewfield Guest House is a five star vegetarian bed and breakfast on Hawkshead Hill, which is fifteen minute either side of Coniston and Windermere. It is situated on 80 acres of private land which is available for guests to walk around and it is well and truly in the countryside, which is perfect for those looking for some R&R in the peace and quiet. The drive up to the hotel can be a little difficult at times - it is up a very steep, narrow hill, with lots of bends, but once you arrive there's ample parking space and the view from the B&B makes it all worthwhile. Yewfield is priced at £90 per night, which is really affordable compared to other places in the Lake District, so I was excited to see what it had to offer.

I've never stayed in a B&B before - I've always thought of bed and breakfast hotels as quite run down, with very cheap furniture and I always preferred the amenities that much larger hotels have to offer. However, Yewfield captured my heart from the get-go with it's charming building, the living area downstairs that makes you feel at home and the countryside decor of the bedrooms, which were stylish and spacious. I also loved the fact that it is a vegetarian guest house - there is no meat served at all on the premises, which disappointed my husband, but was a blessing for me who has been a vegetarian for thirteen years.

The bathroom was also very modern and had a really deep bath with great water temperature and these luxury, eco friendly Organic Damana bath products. They had the most refreshing citrus scent and after a long day of walking, they really helped freshen me up in time for dinner.

One of the downfalls about Yewfield guest house is the fact they don't have a restaurant or bar area, so if you're looking for food in the evening, you will have to travel for it. This didn't bother me too much - we read up on the area and discovered that Hawkshead was only a twenty minute walk away and we came prepared with a bottle of wine for when we got back. I could have easily driven back to Ambleside or down to Hawkshead which is only a short journey away, but we felt like exploring and as I was technically on holiday, I wanted a nice G&T in a country pub.  The walk to Hawkshead was a little adventure, walking by nearby farms and in the heart of the countryside with the only living creatures that we saw for miles being farm life. However, once we  found our bearings it was easy enough to find and because it was a nice, bright evening, it was quite a romantic walk down. 

When we arrived in Hawkshead, we stumbled across an old 17th Century guest house  called the Queen's Head and decided that this was place we would stay and have dinner. The menu was quite extensive with lots of options for vegetarians and was reasonably priced at around £12-16 for a main course. Each of the menu options had been designed to utilise local ingredients and there was everything from pizza to pasta to more a la carte options like rosemary and thyme polenta cake with butternut puree. I opted for the wild mushroom pappardelle made with incredibly fresh pasta and my husband ordered a pizza, which was huge. 

The next morning we woke up at around 8am for breakfast, after what had been one of the best nights sleep I have had in a hotel. Breakfast was served downstairs and consisted of a continental buffet, as well as a vegetarian cooked breakfast of your choice. To start I had the vegan smoothie was wonderfully refreshing and a bowl of soya yoghurt and fruit. I then ordered a cooked breakfast of vegetarian sausage and scrambled tofu. It was the perfect, healthy ending to our trip at the Lake District.

It was a short, but sweet visit to Yewfield and Windermere and I loved every moment of it. I've been to the Lake District several times now and each time I go, I discover even more wonderful places and come back with even better memories. Yewfield Guest House has really transformed my opinion of B&Bs and I would definitely stay there again. 

Have you been to Yewfield or the Lake District?

*My stay at Yewfield Guest House was complimentary, but views are my own.

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