We’ve had a superb weekend away at The Samling, just outside Ambleside on the banks of Windermere. We found this 10-roomed hotel from the Mr & Mrs Smith UK Guide to interesting places to stay.
Location
Perched above Lake Windermere, with a gorgeous south-facing view over the lake, the hotel is a set of buildings clustered around the original house (where William Wordsworth used to pay his rent).
The house is surrounded by landscaped grounds, which at this time of year are full of daffodils (Wordsworth connection?) and magnolias bursting into flower.
Our room
We stayed in the Dove Nest room, away from the main house. This was the only room without a lake view, but made up for it with an enormous bathroom! The room was comfortable, with a big bed, great shower, and Molton Brown smellies.
Dinner
The Samling has just been awarded a Michelin Star, so we had to subject ourselves to two nights of superb food. The first night we both had the lamb, well cooked and succulent. The second night we went for fish, with a crisp Sancerre. The highlights were Jacqueline’s starter (foie gras with confit of duck leg) and John’s pudding (“rhubarb and custard”, interpreted as a brulee-like vanilla-spotted creme anglais covered by a sticky rhubarb coulis, and accompanied by rhubarb ice cream).
On both nights, the canapes, pre-dinner little soups and pre-desserts were excellent, particularly Saturday night’s passion fruit and honeycomb pre-dessert. The (mostly Polish) staff were attentive and friendly.
Breakfast
One of the features of The Samling is that they encourage you to take breakfast in your room. This is not just a couple of bits of dried toast with Baxters marmalade…before going to bed we had to fill in our breakfast menu. Early-morning tea was included, which helped waken us up about 45 minutes before the breakfast arrived. For breakfast, we had fresh fruit, orange juice, smoothies (the berry smoothie was particularly good), a main course (smoked salmon & scrambled egg, poached egg & smoked haddock, doorstep bacon sarnies) and toast. OK, we had to lie down afterwards, but a great way to set us up for a strenuous walk up the Fells.
