Restaurant at The Rampsbeck Hotel

Rampsbeck is one of those gracious lakeside houses of which the north shore of Ullswater has its fair share. Nearer the water's edge than some, it has spectacular views across the lake to the south-eastern hills of the Lake District and affords a degree of comfort and elegance which is aspired to by many hotels, but truly achieved by only a few. To dine there by candlelight as day blends into dusk across the lake brings comfort to the mind and body in equal measure.

A croustade of goat's cheese with roasted peppers and pesto would lay the right foundation for some steamed fillet of halibut with a herb veloute and mille feuille of sauted potatoes, smoked salmon and scallops. The hot blueberry soufflé served with a lemon ice cream would combine memories of fellside and lakeside conservatory into a pleasant transition towards coffee on the verandah as the moon appears in the starlit sky from behind the black bulk of the fells opposite.