The story
1863 Restaurant in Penrith serves modern British cooking from Elm House, High Street, Pooley Bridge, CA10 2NH, a short walk from Ullswater. The Good Food Guide rated it Good for 2026. The building is a Victorian house, and the kitchen works with a menu that shifts with the seasons.
Phil Corrie, the head chef, became a business partner in 2022 alongside owners Mark and Anne Vause. He cooks with a lot of foraged and local produce, and the menus change as the seasons do. Lunch and dinner run as three, five or seven courses, and there is a tasting menu with optional wine flights.
The guide points to shorthorn beef tartare with a local egg yolk and rapeseed oil, and heritage beetroot with Ragstone goat's cheese and seeded cracker. Cartmel Valley venison comes with hen of the woods and winter truffle, and Nordic halibut is served with brown butter bisque. Yorkshire rhubarb with whipped cheesecake and gingerbread closes the meal. Wine is kept by the glass through a Coravin system, with bottles from £34.
The building dates from 1863 and has been a blacksmith's forge and the village post office. It opened as a restaurant with rooms in 2016. Eight en-suite bedrooms sit in the centre of Pooley Bridge, and the dining rooms are filled with pictures, mirrors and objets d'art.
Recognition
Details
History
Opposite the church in a diminutive village just to the north of Ullswater, this dapper Victorian house has surely never looked as cared for as it does now. Constructed in 1863 (hence the name), the building has done time as the local blacksmith's and post office, but since 2016 it has operated as a restaurant with rooms, with an interior that gives off period energy (pictures, mirrors and objets d'art adorn most surfaces). Long-time head chef Phil Corrie stepped up in 2022 to become a business partner with owners Mark and Anne Vause, so it's full steam ahead in the Lakes. A great-value three-course deal is backed up by a tasting menu (five-course lunch, seven-course dinner) with optional wine flights, and the Cumbrian-born chef makes good use of the region's bounty. A grounding in classic cooking is revealed in a starter of shorthorn beef tartare, with a local egg yolk and local rapeseed oil, while heritage crapaudine beetroots get a fashionable workout with Ragstone goat's cheese and seeded cracker. Cartmel Valley venison is just the ticket (served with hen of the woods and winter truffle), and fish is also given a chance to shine (Nordic halibut, say, with brown butter bisque). To finish, Yorkshire rhubarb with whipped cheesecake and gingerbread is a winning combination. The Coravin wine-preservation system means you can expect a broad range of top tipples by the glass, with bottle prices starting at £34.
Location
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