2 Best Restaurants in Cartmel, The Lake District

The village of Cartmel has earned a place on England's culinary map with this ambitious Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms. Chef Simon Rogan's innovative food incorporates long-forgotten herbs and cutting-edge techinques. The restaurant is in what was once a forge, now converted to a bright, contemporary, and airy space with dark wooden beams, stark white walls, and splashes of color. The set menu comes with up to 16 courses and includes delights such as dry aged Herdwick lamb with fermented cabbage and fennel sauce, and a fritter of Duroc pig and smoked eel with lovage. L'Enclume's 16 elegant rooms are in three different buildings around the village.

Husband-and-wife team Kevin and Nicola Tickle run Heft, a superb fine dining restaurant in the village of High Newton, just outside Cartmel. An imaginative set menu with dishes such as oxtail and thyme custard and a Shetland mussel kebab glazed in cucumber garum is served at lunch (£45) and dinner (£95), and there's a separate Sunday menu available until 6 pm. The building was a 17th-century inn, and the Tickles have preserved many of its original architectural features. Heft also has five double bedrooms.