Pubs with Rooms: Lake District [2023]

If you fancy a short break with good food and a distinctly British flavour, then it’s hard to beat booking into one of the great gastro pubs with rooms the UK has to offer. Lake District national park options are some of the best in the British Isles, serving exquisite food in a convivial pub setting. What could be better than retiring upstairs to a beautiful room, well-fed and about to be well-rested?

What better place to enjoy a fabulous feast, a few delicious drinks and a well deserved, blissful night’s sleep? The Lakes are of course the stars of the Cumbrian show, but Carlisle is also a charming and compact city with a large park right in the centre. The towns are handsome and the villages beguiling. Lakes, peaks and a genuinely warm welcome – what more could anyone ask for? I’m not all biased by the fact that I have close family members living in this incredibly scenic and peaceful area, and am thus a regular visitor.

This guide lists only the best pubs with rooms. Lake District hotels and inns for fine dining and comfortable, stylish accommodation include foodies’ favourite the Drunken Duck Inn, Ambleside; the unpretentious Snooty Fox in Kirby Lonsdale, Keswick’s Royal Oak, the Sun Inn of Hawkshead and the Punch Bowl Inn near Kendal. These are four of the Lake District’s finest pubs with rooms. In the region that gave the United Kingdom – and the wider world – sticky toffee pudding…

Name	Location	Style	Room Rate
Drunken Duck Inn	Ambleside	Town inn	££
The Royal Oak	Keswick	Town pub	££
Punch Bowl Inn	Crosthwaite near Windermere	Country inn	£££££
Snooty Fox	Kirby Lonsdale	Village inn	££

Four of the best pubs with rooms in the Lake District

Drunken Duck Inn, Ambleside

Of all gastro pubs with rooms in the Lake District, this is the one most searched for online. Ambleside’s highly rated Drunken Duck Inn serves up delicious, elegantly presented dishes and has a range of lovely rooms too. But that’s not all. There is also Barngates Brewery on site.

Drunken Duck food and drink

Make no mistake – food is a very serious business at this Ambleside pub with rooms. This means that dishes don’t come cheap. They don’t need to – this place is always full.

Drunken Duck Starters

Typical menu highlights for the first course include an Asian-style mushroom tempura with almond miso and fiery nam jim sauce, a Lancashire cheese and chive soufflé or a rabbit, bacon and leek terrine.

Drunken Duck Mains

Around six mains are usually available, or five on Sundays when Sunday lunch is served. These include vegetarian options like roasted mushroom and risotto or artichoke and truffle tagliatelle. Seafood lovers can tuck into fish pie on Sundays; trout or curried cod from Monday to Saturday. Only carnivores will appreciate the meaty mains like pork belly, venison suet pudding or roast beef with Yorkshire pudding.

Drunken Duck Desserts

This Cumbrian Inn does of course serves up sticky toffee pudding – but often only on Sundays. Otherwise, inventive options include chocolate mousse with caramelised popcorn or blackberries and honeycomb, plum Bakewell with vanilla ice cream or a gooseberry doughnut and butterscotch.

Drunken Duck Drinks

Barngates Brewery is on site and customers can take away supplies as well as sampling at the bar. Beer drinking is of course not obligatory; there is a carefully chosen wine list to accompany your meal at the Drunken Duck restaurant.

Drunken Duck rooms

The range of accommodation at this Lake District pub with rooms include Original, Superior and Deluxe rooms as well as Suites. There are 11 elegant rooms in total, and each offers its own character. Decor is modern yet classic and welcoming, with details such as floral or geometric prints plus plush or panelled headboards and cosy armchairs. Some offer lake views and private balcony or patio.

See the latest rates for the Drunken Duck Inn, Lake District HERE

The Royal Oak at Keswick

The Royal Oak in Keswick is one of several Royal Oak pubs in the Lake District area. This one is located on a busy Cumbrian market town’s Main Street, and has a pub, restaurant and accommodation all in one place.

Royal Oak Keswick food and drink

The Royal Oak menu offers a range of delicious food, from ‘little nibbles’ and starters to sharing plates, grills, burgers, signature dishes, Sunday lunch and desserts.

Royal Oak Keswick starters

Starters at the Royal Oak include their ‘little nibbles’ menu, offering light bites like olives, whitebait, breads or chipolotas. The main starter menu, meanwhile, features small plates for one like tempura prawns, soup, terrine or a black pudding scotch egg.

Royal Oak Keswick mains

There are salads, burgers, sharing platters, grills and house specialities to choose from. Dishes thus typically range from a rib eye, sirloin or fillet steak to a chicken or veggie burger. Signature dishes might include a meat-free tagine or seafood pasta, while you’ll find pies, fish and chips, sausages with mash and more on the classics menu. Or you could share a fishmonger’s or butcher’s platter.

Royal Oak Keswick desserts

The Royal Oak’s homemade sticky toffee pudding is joined by crumbles, cheesecake, brownies and ice cream. Lovers of savoury flavours can opt for a cheese plate instead if they like.

Royal Oak Keswick drinks

The drinks list is a particular highlight, including a comprehensive selection of gins, cocktails and soft drinks. A great wine list and range of beers is complemented by a good choice of rums, whiskies, non-alcoholic and sparkling cocktails.

Royal Oak Keswick rooms

Thoughtful touches characterise the accommodation at the Royal Oak in Keswick. There are chunky, handmade biscuits, fresh milk and trays for your muddy boots are supplied. Free WiFi, flatscreen TV and rainfall showers ensure a luxurious, comfortable stay, and liberal sprinkling of soft throws and plump cushions creates a cosy atmosphere.

Compare room rates for the Royal Oak, Keswick HERE

Punch Bowl Inn, Crosthwaite

Gastro pubs with rooms in the Lake District don’t come much better than this highly rated country inn – the Punch Bowl near Kendal. This place offers a mouthwatering menu, peaceful and picturesque village location and range of boutique style rooms.

Punch Bowl Inn food and drink

Elegant gastropub food is the name of the game at The Punch Bowl. The menu offers a good balance between meat, fish and vegetarian dishes, and where possible food is locally sourced.

Punch Bowl Inn starters

You can begin your meal with a starter such as Morecambe Bay shrimps, Scottish black pudding or Lancashire cheese soufflé, or opt for a terrine or soup.

Punch Bowl Inn mains

Fish fans will love dishes like a cod loin, scallops, crab risotto, sea bass or simple fish and chips. For carnivores there are beef dishes including steaks alongside specialities like guinea fowl or lamb loin.

Punch Bowl Inn desserts

Desserts here tend to be on the lighter side – think of fools, soufflés, mousses or a lemon tart or mille feuille. Cheese and biscuits is also available for fans those whose palates favour savoury over sweet.

Punch Bowl Inn drinks

This Cumbrian Inn offers local ales, fine wines and a good range of spirits to accompany your meal, or to enjoy as a pre- or post-dinner drink.

Punch Bowl Inn rooms

Accommodation at the Punch Bowl hotel comprises nine individually-styled rooms. Interestingly, each is named for a former clergyman from the next-door church – Hebblewhite, Strickland, Burkett, Peake. Rooms, decorated in a classic yet contemporary country style, offer stunning views over the surrounding countryside. They offer plump, comfortable beds, roll top baths, power showers and flatscreen TVs.

Discover the latest room rates for the Punch Bowl Inn, Kendal HERE

Snooty Fox, Kirby Lonsdale

Looking for authentic yet contemporary pub stays? Lake District country inn the Snooty Fox aims to reinvent the traditional British pub. It works – a seamless blend of old and new runs through the decor.

Snooty Fox food and drink

Food here is homemade, delicious and completely unpretentious. Despite the ‘snooty’ in the name, this place is utterly – and delightfully – down-to-earth. A great value two course meal deal is also available.

Snooty Fox Starters

Food at the Snooty Fox is more modern pub fare than fine dining. Typical starters thus include a homemade soup of the day, battered black pudding, fresh mussels with ciabatta or cauliflower fritters.

Snooty Fox Mains

A range of hearty British pub classics like steak and ale or fish pie, scampi or fish and chips, sausages and mash and meat or veggie burgers make up the bulk of the menu. There are also nods to both the retro and contemporary in dishes like chicken supreme, wild mushroom linguine, stilton risotto and butternut curry.

Snooty Fox Desserts

Sticky Toffee pud? But of course. Typically there’s also lavish yet light sponge cakes such as chocolate orange or salted caramel and familiar favourites like apple tart or selected ice creams to choose from.

Snooty Fox Drinks

Whether it’s pint of local real ale in the beer garden or a fine wine to accompany great pub grub, the Snooty Fox has a great range. They specialise in offering the best craft beers, gins and rums available.

Snooty Fox rooms

Rooms at the Snooty Fox are spacious and light-filled, decorated in soothing neutrals with pops of pattern or colour here and there. This Cumbrian pub with rooms has superior and deluxe doubles as well as one family room. Unique, historical character features such as exposed beams, original hand painted wallpaper, bare stone walls and panelled doors can be found in each room.

Check out current room rates for the Snooty Fox HERE

Which pub with rooms in the Lake District will you book?

I hope you’ve found something to whet your appetite within this list. To check current prices per night or check availability and the latest reviews, click on the link below each listing. Various members of my family reside in Cumbria, and I always love travelling through this part of north west England when we’re en-route to Carlisle. Once we’re there, at least one trip to the Lakes per visit is a necessity – whether it’s shopping in Penrith, afternoon tea in Keswick, a wonder round Lake Windermere or to show my daughter around the World of Beatrix Potter.

Check out these posts for more travel ideas:

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