Cumbria’s Living Heritage Highlights Bake Off Cake and Tearoom Credentials

As chefs from Levens Hall and Gardens’ eatery, Levens Kitchen, compete in Bake Off: the Professionals, Cumbria’s Living Heritage is highlighting that other tearooms, cafés and restaurants within its vibrant membership have similarly impressive things to boast about.

Robert Stacey and Mireia Ferreres Luna are two of the talented chefs behind Levens Kitchen’s main menu, breakfast delights, pizzas and exquisite patisserie and cakes. Visitors to Levens Hall and Gardens do not have to pay admission to access the culinary pleasures of Levens Kitchen – something true at many other tearooms and eateries within Cumbria’s Living Heritage.

“Combining a cultural, art, garden, historic home visit, or special event attendance, with a trip to a venue’s catering facility, gives the visitor a memorable experience. But if you just want a taste of heritage, there are some delightful options and atmospheric cafes and restaurants to explore within Cumbria’s Living Heritage,” says its Chair, Peter FrostPennington.

Whilst Levens Kitchen is housed within a contemporary building just a short walk from the entrance to Levens Hall, other tearooms in the group are found in rather older premises.

The Tudor barn tearoom at Dalemain is one example. Here, sandwiches are not just served on bread but on artisan tomato focaccia bread and afternoon tea scones come with a choice of strawberry jam or rhubarb marmalade. The latter provides a big clue to Dalemain’s love of marmalade, with ‘Jane’s marmalade’ also glazing the pork sausage roll served and a range of delicious marmalades on sale. This is because Dalemain is home to the world-renowned Marmalade Festival, although marmalade is just one of many other reasons to visit its delightful mansion and awardwinning gardens, known for the Chinese wallpaper that came over by Tea Clipper, Himalayan Blue Poppies and links to Lady Anne Clifford.

The Terrace Café, at Brantwood on Coniston, is housed in a former coach house that once served the philosopher, writer and philanthropist John Ruskin’s household. The menu promises to be quirky and original and this is communicated through elements like the haggis butter that accompanies the Brantwood bacon bun breakfast treat. Lunch could be a toastie with Blengdale blue cheese, or something tasty like marinated coconut and like chicken.

At Mirehouse, near Keswick, tearoom goers can tuck into cinnamon gingerbread, Cumberland sausage served in a roll with apple sauce and mouth-watering lemon cake, at the Old Sawmill Tearoom, just by the Mirehouse gates, in the Dodd Wood car park. At Huttonin-the-Forest, the serving of ‘cultural cuisine’ is in the Cloisters Tearoom, whilst at Rydal Mount, a former home of William Wordsworth, the calories can be knocked up in what was once a saddlery.

This was above the ancient stables and was converted into a schoolroom by the Wordsworths, as they sought to educate their daughter, Dora. She remained a tearaway, however! The tearoom today serves cheese, blueberry and plain scones, and traditional Cumbrian tea bread, homemade by Rydal Mount’s tea lady Pauline and head gardener, Helen. It offers a dozen choices of cakes from Staveley-based, Ginger Bakers, and serves Farrer’s tea and coffee. This is the UK’s oldest coffee roaster and the heritage home believes Wordsworth himself may have served Farrer’s tea.

Local produce is important to all of the eateries in the venues within Cumbria’s Living Heritage and at Café Ambio, nestled on the banks of the River Leven and next door to the Lakeland Motor Museum, that can be seen in ingredients such as Cartmel Valley smoked salmon and Cartmel Valley smoked Cumberland hotdog.

Many eateries also put the emphasis on homemade, this including the café at Wordsworth Grasmere, Blackwell - the Arts and Crafts House, in Bownesson-Windermere and Creeping Kate’s – the Stables Café at Muncaster Castle and Gardens.

The quintessential English delight that is afternoon tea can be enjoyed at many of the heritage eateries, including Holker Hall and Gardens, near Cartmel. Those wanting a graband-go meal, will find takeaway options at Keswick Museum and Art Gallery and at Levens Kitchen, where the GOAT – Greatest of All Takeaways – can be found.

At the Windermere Jetty Museum, where the story of boats and steam soon builds up the appetite, the emphasis is on branding, with Jetty honey roast ham, Jetty slaw and Jetty bread all tickling the taste buds and nestling alongside regional delights such as Borrowdale Teabread and Penrith Pepperpot Sausage.

However, perhaps the place to which to head for a more complete dining experience, is The Gaddum Restaurant. This is one of the eateries at Brockhole on Windermere and housed in Brockhole House, the former 19th century home of Edith Gaddum, cousin to Beatrix Potter. Here, diners take their seats in a venue boasting a truly gorgeous arts and crafts interior, whether they wish to enjoy a wonderful two or three-course lunch, from Tuesday to Saturday, or a Sunday lunch, or a sophisticated afternoon tea, for which booking is required.

Heading to any of these eateries may well sharpen the appetite for a visit to their accompanying heritage venue, where you can discover all manner of things about Cumbrian heritage of the past, as well as its present-day interpretation. Details of locations and things to do can be found at www.cumbriaslivingheritage.co.uk