The story
The Cottage in the Wood in Cockermouth serves Modern British cooking at Magic Hill, Whinlatter Forest, Braithwaite, CA12 5TW, and holds a Michelin star for 2026. The restaurant-with-rooms sits in a whitewashed 17th-century inn high above the Lake District's northern edge.
Jack Bond and his wife Beth took over the restaurant in 2024. Jack brings London kitchen experience and time at Eleven Madison Park in New York to a menu built on Cumbrian produce. The tasting menu runs to around seven courses. Past dishes have included squid ragù with pecorino and basil, and monkfish with pumpkin and Café de Paris butter, followed by rhubarb, ginger and custard.
The dining room stands about 1,000 feet up on Whinlatter Pass, with the forest canopy below and views toward the Skiddaw range and Bassenthwaite Lake. Four Cottage rooms sit in the original 1640 part of the building, each with an en-suite. Room prices include the tasting menu and a two-course breakfast for each guest. The Mountain View rooms have super king beds and whirlpool baths.
The wine list draws largely on local merchants rather than the usual big names, and the glass selection is strong. Breakfast comes with a show. Resident squirrels gather outside the terrace windows, while two cockerels have taken to stealing their food.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
High quality cooking
The name fits this whitewashed 17th-century inn high up in the pine-covered Whinlatter Forest, where mesmerising views and vigorous birdlife enchant. Spruced up by Jack Bond ( Great British Menu 2026 finalist) and his sommelier wife Beth, it feels fresh and very much of its location: tones of mossy, sage greens, wood, stone, slate, and natural fabrics. Dinner tends to be booked well in advance. We found a table at lunch easier to come by, and the five-course taster (plus two snacks) proved a great-value bonus at £80 (the seven-course dinner is £130). Bond’s cooking is exceptional, refined but playful and impeccably sourced. Chefs on rotation bring out the dishes and staff (superb) are good at judging whether guests want the full ‘name of the duck’ story or just a quick outline. Indeed, the duck was our dish of the day: salt-aged, rotisseried breast brushed with malt gastrique, a memorable Madeira jus, fudgy, sticky, beetroot seasoned with blackcurrant wood oil, and a sausage roll (made from duck leg). Much of the wine list is sourced from local merchants rather than the obvious big names. If you've got £50 to spend on a bottle, there's room for manoeuvre – and there's a good choice by the glass. Would we go back? In a heartbeat.
3 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence
Location
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