please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Spent an evening and afternoon here last week. Lovely pub with a real fire and the best ales I have tasted for a long time. Legendary.
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Remote location but has everything you need - including Loweswater Gold. One of the finest beers found on the Inn Way to the Lake District.
Lovely beer garden, rambling rooms, food looked good.
Visit blogged at http://bit.ly/2qE6XMg
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A lovely pub tucked away in a more remote area of the Lakes. Service, food and beer were all very good, particularly the Cascadian dark beer - a very good example of a black IPA. Pity there are no campsites in the area as we would have loved to have parked up the camper somewhere nearby and stayed a bit longer.
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Had a pint and a sandwich last Saturday lunchtime. Very pleasant (if a little expensive) on a drizzly day.
Recommended.
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We arrived after a six mile hike around Loweswater that saw us stranded up a mountain and having been forced to climb over numerous gates and fences to escape private land - a stray lamb had also mistaken us for its parents. Hence, having time for only a brief visit to this excellent village pub was frustrating while its location limits the amount of beer one can consume without breaking the law. A half of Loweswater pale ale was enjoyed though - and the menu looked utterly scrumptious. We'll be back.
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First class food and beer amongst tremendous scenery.
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Paid my annual visit earlier this month. Beer and food truly excellent, the best meal I've had for ages! Not to be missed.
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Arrived for lunch on Thursday 26th to find it was the start of their three day beer festival, so the choice of beers was expanded to about twenty or more. However, I still tried two of the Cumbrian Legendary beers (brewery used to be at the pub and now at Esthwaite Water). Both the Esthwaite Bitter and Pacific Voyage were very very good . Our lunches were excellent . Very friendly atmosphere and, as others have mentioned, a superb location. A great pub
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This is in a beautiful setting but hard to reach without your own transport. There are several excellent local beers on hand pump. The food is good as well, although when we were there the staff didn't get the orders quite right, probably due to being short-handed.
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Visited again in July 2011. Surprisingly quiet but I'm not complaining.
The beers were all great as was the food. Still keeping standards high
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The Kirkstile Inn seems to be miles from anywhere but it is surrounded by some of the most spectacular scenery in the whole of the UK.
We called in mid afternoon last Thursday and found it difficult to find anywhere to sit because of all the �RESERVED� signs on the tables as the staff were busy laying up for what appeared was going to be a sell-out evening meal session. Reading previous reviews the popularity of the food seems to be par for the course.
On the beer front, the Loweswater Gold, which was originally brewed on the premises, was superb. Production of Loweswater beers has now been moved to another micro brewery in Hawkshead.
I guess that if we had visited at lunchtime or in the evening, it would have been manic, so mid afternoon seems to be an ideal time to call in for a pint or two and admire the stunning Lakeland views �
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Beautiful location, some tasty brews, decent food, but an anally retentive southern import landlord who serves to wreck the ambience. Relax mate, you'll get rich! We parked the car in the car park and were going to buy food and drink, again, after walking down to the lake. Shame, really, because it put a bunch us off from going back again - and providing you with loadsa money!!!!!!! Can't some of the staff weight his body and throw him in Crummock water- or send him back to Surrey to talk about how much his house is worth?
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This pub is a real treat: excellent beer (go for Gold or try the Mellbreak) and scrummy eating. Landed up here after a long day on the fells and had the superb steak & ale pie washed down with Mellbreak bitter. My second visit but I hope I shall make many more. It is very popular so it's wise to book if you want to eat.
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Another fantastic visit to this cracking remote pub. Place was quiet, fires lit, and weather outside snowy. A couple of pints of Mellbreak were very well recieved.
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A real treat. Beautiful location (found it during a walk) and very friendly service. The beers are excellent (a micro-brewery) and some real treats in store. The food at lunchtime was extrememly good as well. This will need another visit next time I'm in the Lake District! (I ought to add that by the time I left, the place was VERY crowded indeed-- popular with walkers from Buttermere.)
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Excellent beer, great food, and great views. This is obviously a very popular pub - there are only about 10 houses in the village but the pub had a lot more tables than this and we had to book in advance - and when you try their steak pie and their ales you can understand why people come from miles around to this pub.
Very Recommended!
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What a view and what a location - that alone makes the place fantastic but add in fine beers and a quaint rural atmosphere and you nearly have utopia. The only problem is the out of the way issue so drinking and driving is a problem and taxi's to/from the place would cost you in the pocket. A lovely place though.
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Go out of your way to find this pub. It's in a perfect setting and has great beer from its own brewery. I can't comment on the food, but it looked like a popular eating, as well as drinking, stop.
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Quite simply the best steak and ale pie ive ever had, it also came with lots of superb gravy and at a good price too.
The ale was good and the melbreak bitter reminded me of a top notch home brewed beer.
Great scenery too.
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Absolutely excellent place. Delectably delicious beer (mostly own-brew) and very pleasant place with fast/courteous service. Food was good when I last tried it but only had beer this time (17th July 2008). Highly recommended.
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Good Food, Magic own brewed Ales - superb views.
Heaven.
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Re own beers not being available - did you ask why? I know that they had a brewing failure not long ago and did not have enough previously brewed stuff to last out. You perhaps visited during this period. Fortunately, they always have a range of good brews from other Cumbrian breweries!
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Discovered this pub a few years ago and it has remained my all-time favourite ever since. The location cannot be bettered, the food is excellent (try the steak pie!) and their very own Loweswater beer range includes two magnificent efforts in Kirkstile Gold and Grasmoor Dark Ale (both in my personal Top Ten...and I sample a lot of beer!).
Had the pleasure of visiting here again on Sunday after climbing Mellbreak. Was disappointed that no Loweswater beers were on (in fact availability has been a little irregular of late which they need to watch) but was still presented with three good quality local brews. A simply wonderful place.
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We sat in the garden after a long walk and enjoyed a pint of Malbreak Bitter and after that a pint of Scuillin (?), a very nice beer from Scotland. Location of the pub is fantastic, especially in the bright sunshine we had in the first week of May.
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Don't go on a busy day!! This Easter Sunday the place was packed mostly with diners and kids. We queued for 15 minutes to get a drink. Both beers we got were in poor condition: one newly on, green and hazy, the other sludgy. We didn't fancy another 15 minutes queueing to get them changed.
anonymous - 12 Apr 2007 15:13 |
What a place.
I arrived, early afternoon, after having been guided on a beautiful, winding drive there by a friend who had previously visited...
Jumped out of the car, and straight into this marvellous place. Enjoyed some pints of Melbreak bitter, and some wonderful home-cooked food, which set us up just perfectly for a few hours of walking. The weather was great, and the view from the top of Melbreak...awesome!
We descended back to the pup, having worked up both an apatite and a thirst, so went back in... Just in time in many ways...
The heavens opened, just as we changed our shoes at the door... making us glad to be infront of the fire and off the hillside...
Also, the place was rammed, and getting busier all the time.
We grabbed a table and settled in for a few hours of pub perfection.
What else can be said...
Location, nestled by Loweswater, and Crummock Water, under some of the best walking in the lakes...
The inn itself, beautiful, historic, having been serving food and drink for over 300 years...
The beers, marvellous, their own brews, super, and the local guests, marvellous. They've been in the Good beer Guide for over 25yrs!!
Staff friendly...beer garden for warm days, fire place for cold ones, and so welcoming to all (even scruffy tired walkers..)
What more can be said... wonderful... I'll just have to rate it 10/10.
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If its a warm day, sit in the garden and look at Mellbreak, with a pint of one of their on-site brewed ales. Even better if you've just climbed aforementioned mountain. Recommended!
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Their own Kirkstile Gold is gloriously quaffable!! They can hardly keep up with the demand for it!
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Superb. Great location overlooking the fells & views of Crummock water. Very high quality food is quite good value - would be thought of as cheap-average prices if it was Surrey! Changing beers brewed on the premises (Melbreak Bitter particularly good) or from local area (e.g. Coniston Bluebird). Shouldn't really recommend it - its already always busy!
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