We recently spent a few glorious days walking in the Lake District and had forgotten just how beautiful it is there. Based in Coniston and renting one of the Coppermines cottages we had plenty to do during our short stay including walking up the Old Man of Coniston - thats a mountain by the way! - We also spent one day walking from Lake Coniston up into the hills to Tarn Hows which is a simply lovely mountain lake surrounded by hills and woodland.
On the way back it started to rain just as we got into Coniston and so we ducked into the Yewdale Hotel and decided to have a couple of drinks and dinner while we waited out the rain.
The hotel is a Victorian stone and slate building right at the centre of Coniston in a prominent position near the bridge and over the road from the Black Bull Pub.
The restaurant is bright but a bit lacking in atmosphere and has a sort of afternoon tea at a seaside resort feel. I hope that makes sense... It is as though it was decorated in the 80's with a target audience of OAP day trippers. I guess they did their market research pretty well because that was pretty much the clientele while we were there. It also seemed to attract families with young children. The younger set were in the pub over the road. There was no music.
The restaurant was less than half full at our early time of 6pm so had no trouble finding a table in one of the bay windows. Seating was also available outside but the few remaining people under the parasols headed inside or away when we and the rain arrived.
The menu was not bad and included a good choice of meals and wines. I am afraid that I did not notice what the veggie options were but the mains included locally produced meats.
I ordered a decent bottle of Malbec for about £16 and also had a couple of pints of bitter. The bitter was a bit disappointing as they had no local ales on and I had wanted to try the Coniston Bluebird ale. The only choices at the time were John Smith's cool , cold or something like that... and Old Speckled Hen. I went with the OSH which was fine.
The service was slow. Presumably in peak months they bring in extra help??? You have to order meals at a food ordering point at the bar. I was behind 2 other lots and the barman was alternately serving people at the bar and the food ordering point. I stood there for about 10 minutes before giving my order to the chatty barman.
I ordered the steak and ale pie and my other half went for a chicken caesar salad. The food took half an hour to arrive but both meals were very good especially my pie which was chock full of tender steak and was one of the best I have had. The veg was fresh and cooked just right. Highly recommended. We spent the previous week in the south of France and had a few good salads there so although it was a nice one my wife's caesar salad was a bit meagre on the salad front compared to the mountainous piles of leaves that you seem to get abroad but she enjoyed it very much.
With perfect timing the rain stopped and we paid and made our way back to our cottage a bit heavier and tipsier for our experience.
The bill came to £39.95 for two mains, a good bottle of wine and a couple of pints.
In summary: Visited 1st July 2008. The food and drinks were good, the service was a bit slow and the place lacked any atmosphere. Would I go again? Yes... for the steak and ale pie and then I would nip over the road to the Black Bull.
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Jul 8th, 2008
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