The Cottage in the Wood

Catch Cottage in the Wood on a good day and you might just find one of the most beautiful dining spots in the Lakes. Tucked away in Whinlatter Forest, Jack and Beth Bond have transformed this treetop bolthole into a charming restaurant with rooms, where the dining room gazes out over the trees and red squirrels flit across the veranda like woodland waiters.

Inside, the dining space splits between a cosy inner room and a conservatory that’s understandably popular, especially if you can snag a window seat. Acoustics aren’t perfect (expect to raise your voice a little), but the views more than make up for it.

Jack’s cooking is what has really put Cottage back on the map. The goat milk potato bread is a soft, pillowy marvel, and the butter deserves its own fan club. Then come the dishes. A silky chawanmushi with smoked eel and fresh tomatoes is perfectly judged, and a chunk of monkfish in Café de Paris sauce glistens, catching the light with the pearlescent beauty of perfect cooking. A lamb dish with glossy sauce and broccoli purée is equally confident and delicious.

Cottage shines brightest when it leans into the classics. A more modern plate of shaved pumpkin with rhubarb and black garlic has clever flavours but slightly stubborn textures - a minor misstep in an otherwise impressive meal.

Staff are warm and enthusiastic, and the whole experience is full of charm. Bonus points for the slickly refurbished rooms, which make an overnight stay a very tempting prospect.

The prospect of a forest retreat might tempt you, but don’t sleep on Cottage in the Wood serious culinary ambitions. It’s not just a pretty face - the cooking is thoughtful, the service is lovely, and the rooms are a dream. Book a table, stay the night, and enjoy coffee with the squirrels in the morning.

The Cottage in the Wood is a Michelin-starred restaurant in Whinlatter Forest near Keswick, run by husband-and-wife team Beth and Jack Bond. Jack worked in some of the world’s best restaurants before opening The Cottage in the Woods with Beth, including New York’s Eleven Madison Park, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Claridges and The Berkeley. His style is as precise as you’d expect given his background, and wife Beth brings a background managing sustainable restaurants, including most recently Apricity in Mayfair.

The dining room is clean and minimal, with the focus being a set of panoramic windows that look out onto the Cumbrian countryside. That countryside plays a key role in the menu as well, as The Cottage in the Woods serves two hyper-seasonal tasting menus, built around a bounty of Cumbrian produce.

Although British produce is the focus, Jack’s style takes inspiration from all over the globe. Dishes at the time of writing include lobster croustade with tomato and yuzu, goat’s milk potato bread with chives, pumpkin with wild raspberry and almond, and hazelnut with white verjus and rum. Guests have the choice of a lunch or dinner tasting menu, the latter of which is seven courses and available with a wine pairing. Additionally, the restaurant runs two different menus over the course of two days, so guests who choose to stay for two nights can eat at the restaurant both times and experience two completely different menus.

Guests can stay overnight at The Cottage in the Woods, as the restaurant also operates as a boutique hotel with nine bedrooms available. All the rooms are based in the original part of the building, which dates back to 1640, and features cosy ‘Cottage’ rooms, ‘Mountain View’ rooms which look out over Skiddaw mountain range, and ‘Treetops’ room in the loft, complete with skylight for night sky views.