Amongst all the many pretty splendid hotels in the Lake District, there are few to match the Langdale Chase. Completed by the turn of the last century it became a hotel in 1930 and has been attracting the discerning ever since. The dining room has scenic views across Lake Windermere with a breadth of view that matches the menus.

Proceedings commence with an amuse bouche, followed by starters that could include a coarse pork pate with a parsley, dill and caper sauce, an assiette of seafood with crab and herb mousse, smoked mackerel, Morecambe Bay shrimps, salmon tartar and Bradan rost, or a Tuna Caesar salad.

For main courses keep an eye open for the trio of Mansergh Hall lamb, a compilation of roast loin, sauté kidney and cutlet of lamb served with a cassolet of pulses and confit of garlic complemented by a rosemary redcurrant lamb juice, or perhaps the tournedos of beef with wild mushrooms, charred foie gras and a red wine shallot jus.

Puddings follow the same pattern with a dark hot chocolate gateau offering no escape at all lest it be the milk chocolate, flavoured with dark rum, with a chilled poached pear and cinnamon infused anglaise sauce. The petits fours served with the coffee are works of art, and when I say served I do mean service as it should be, both then and throughout the meal.