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The Stagg Inn, Titley, Herefordshire

Lamb sweetbreads, bacon and saute potatoes

Fillet of Herefordshire beef, potato rosti, new season garlic cream
Seared scallops served on a bed of lentils

Three creme brulees: elderflower, vanilla, coffee
Creme caramel

Coffee and petit fours

Excellent long weekend in a sunny and warm London. We stayed at the Queensgate Hotel on, ahem, Queen’s Gate, just round the corner from the Natural History Museum. The hotel was very welcoming, with a comfortable and spacious room, and was in a good location close to South Ken and Chelsea.

Highlights of the weekend:

• Modernism exhibition at the V&A. This traced modernism from the Bauhaus in 1914 through to it’s impact on present-day architecture and design.
• Americans in Paris echibition at the National Gallery. A really interesting review of American artists in Paris at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th century. Interesting fact of the day: The copyright for James McNeil Whistler’s letters is held by the University of Glasgow. I wonder why?
• My first opera experience: La Belle Helene at the English National Opera. A fun evening out - I’ll certainly try it again.
• Mooching around the King’s Road and the deepest depths of Battersea in the sunshine.
• Good food at Carluccio’s, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Crumpet (right in the centre of Nappy Valley) and Wagamama.

We had forgotten to bring the directions on how to find L’Enclume in Cartmel. It was easy enough to find Cartmel - the OS map helped with that, but we drove around looking in vain for L’Enclume. So we had to park and call the restaurant.

L’Enclume is down a narrow street, through a 14th Century archway off the village square. It is the old blacksmith’s (l’enclume is French for anvil).

Our room (Beaumont and Fletcher) was spacious and comfortable, and we had time for a relaxing bath after our walk up the Old Man of Coniston and before dinner.

Dinner
It is difficult to think of the right superlatives for this meal, and it confirms Simon Rogan as one of the UK’s most exciting chefs. We decided on the Introduction menu, although we could have gone for the Intermediate or Gourmand (20 course) menus!

• Flavours on a whim, take it as you want
  cheese froth, a shot glass with beetroot jelly, pea jelly and pea foam and a cocktail stick with cheese, pea, beetroot and ham). Just a pre-starter!
• Parsnip and tonka bean cream, grains of paradise, malt extract
  a creamy soup, flavoured with Jamaican spices.
• Glazed pork cheeks as seen previously but in a new way
  the most tender pork cheeks, almost oxtail in their depth of flavour.
• Diver caught sea scallops, salsify and shrimp, hot violet mayonnaise
  Superb flavours, perfectly cooked scallops.
• Lightly smoked sea bass, smith apples, walnut and watercress
  a delicate sea bass, perfectly combined with the apple and walnut.
• 24 hours lamb shoulder, feta cheese flageolet, cardamom milk
  the combination of tender lamb with feta cheese was a surprising pleasure, and the background tastes of mustard and cardomom gave this dish an astonishing depth of flavour. My second favourite dish of the evening.
• Cheese table
  we could not resist this - the cheese board had around 20 French and English cheeses, all in perfect condition.
• Expearamenthol frappe
  pear jelly covered in a richly aromatic eucalyptus mousse. Wow!
• Upside down coconut souoffle, mili-melo
  the souffle was turned out at the table, and covered in a buttery cinnamon sauce, and served with a fairly solid pineapple jelly and a chocolate ice cream. Not sure if all the tastes themed together for this one.
• Coffee and petit fours
  the coffee was good, but the petit fours didn’t arrive. No matter, we were stuffed anyway!

We groaned up to bed and slept soundly all night!

Breakfast
Luckily, breakfast service did not start until 9 am. By then we were ready for fresh fruit, porridge and a nicely presented eggs benedict. We needed a walk after that, even in the rain!

Overall verdict: This could be the best restaurant in the UK, it is definitely at the top of my list, along with Hibiscus. I still think the whole atmosphere of Hibiscus means that it is top of the tree, still.

The Drunken Duck Inn is a country pub with rooms, situated on a crossroads in the middle of the fells just to the south of Ambleside.

Our room was in the courtyard and had a little first-floor enclosed balcony that looked north over the fells to Ambleside and beyond. We had afternoon tea delivered to our room, and discovered a little glass jar with shortbread and chocolate cookies.

Dinner
The Inn has recently become entirely non-smoking (to match the small country to the north), so we were able to enjoy a drink in the bar before our dinner. The pre-dinner appetisers were potentially the best part of the meal - a black sausage and a cucumber with haddock mousse.

The Flookborough potted shrimps with malted toast were excellent, and Jacqueline enjoyed her shredded duck with chilli. However the lamb was a little tough and served with pea puree the consistency of mushy peas - maybe that’s the northern influence! And Jacqueline’s skate wing didn’t live up to expectations either. The trio of lemon puddings for dessert - lemon meringue ice cream, lemon and thyme brulee and lemon pudding made up for some of the main-course let-down.

Breakfast
The breakfast was excellent. Fresh orange and raspberry juice followed by yoghurt, raspberry coulis and granola. Haggis has become the new black pudding - the full English had a very good haggis, along with Cumberland sausage, poached egg, tomato and mushrooms. Jacqueline had brioche French toast, with apple puree and maple syrup - very reminiscent of Canada.

Service throughout was friendly, helpful and efficient.
Overall rating: good gastropub, well worth a stay.

We arrived in Grasmere at around lunchtime on Friday and had a relaxing stroll around Grasmere and Rydal Water in the sunshine. Unfortunately I forgot my camera for the walk. We spent Friday night eating and sleeping at the Drunken Duck near Ambleside. See food blog.

On Saturday we went for a stroll around Ambleside, mainly looking at the gear shops (see, Rog, it’s not just you). Picked up some snacks and went to Coniston, where we climbed the Old Man. It was a nice walk up to the top, past old quarry workings (some cracking Borrowdale volanics) and Low Water tarn. It was really windy on the top, so the walk along the ridge was a bit hairy! The wind did not die down until we were well below Goat Water.

Yet again, I forgot my camera, but this is a picture taken from Blackwell today.

Saturday evening was a “gastronomic experience” at L’Enclume in Cartmel. See food blog.

It was bucketing this morning, so we went for a walk from Cartmel up to the top of Hampsfell, overlooking a very misty Morecambe Bay. Got soaked, and it took us until Gretna to dry off.

On the way back to the M6, we popped into Blackwell, an Arts and Crafts house built by M H Baillie Scott on the banks of Windermere. Beautiful, with lots of natural light, oak and inglenooks.

For once, it stopped raining just as we crossed the Scottish border!

The only bad think that happened over the weekend was that a green Mercedes van ran into the back of Jacqueline’s car at the Raith interchange just as we were about to go onto the M74. But it is only superficial damage and the green van’s insurance will cover it.