A refreshing antidote to the spendy fine-dining common to the Lake District, this family-run bistro offers good, hearty eating without the mountainous prices
The Lake District is impossibly beautiful, as well as delicious. I spend half my life there, but at times it’s woefully inaccessible. Not “Kirkstone Pass in a Vauxhall Rascal with worn-out brakes” inaccessible. No, I mean much of the notable dining and friendly service in the Lakes takes place in ultra-spendy luxury resorts, with a minimum two-night stay, at approximately £300 per room. “Yes, I’ll bring my 83-year-old mother and tween niece for a three-hour, 10-plate chef’s journey of citrus bisque and kohlrabi,” I groan mournfully as weekly news arrives of yet another billion-pound stately home renovation aimed at stressy Zurich hedge-fund managers who want to spend 48 hours blasting haplessly at grouse and having £200 hot-stone massages.
Which is all lovely, but every week I’m in search of a big, reasonably priced and, above all, welcoming place to take normal folk; one in fact like The Yan at Broadrayne. Somewhere that serves rustic stuff with finesse, but not too much finesse: Cumberland sausage, bowls of buttery mash, sticky toffee pudding or even just a rack of toast with local jams. Somewhere like The Yan that’s open more than 20 hours per week and serves sweet things that appear to be made from scratch, not bought at the local Pioneer food store and thawed out. Somewhere the staff are jolly and not broken by 20 coaches of Beatrix Potter fans every day.
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