The Punch Bowl Inn

Our View

Very much a destination dining inn, the Punch Bowl stands alongside the village church in the delightfully unspoilt Lyth Valley. The slates on the bar floor, which were found beneath the old dining room, complement the Brathay slate bar top and antique furnishings. Ales from Cumbrian microbreweries include Tag Lag from Barngates Brewery, and Swan Blonde. The restaurant is slightly more formal, with comfortable leather chairs, polished oak floorboards and an eye-catching stone fireplace. Two rooms off the bar add extra space for eating or relaxing with a pint and the daily paper in front of an open fire. The kitchen focuses on the best local and seasonal produce with ingredients sourced extensively from the area’s estates, farms and coastal villages. Main courses like pan roast monkfish with tomato fondue, diced scallop and prawn with charred leeks and chorizo sauce; or glazed beetroot and butternut squash, pak choi, spinach, hen of the woods mushrooms and Tunworth cheese beignets pave the way for temptingly accomplished desserts: blackberry soufflé, vanilla ice cream and blackberry sauce, for example; or lemon tart with damson sorbet. In addition to a good list of dessert wines, champagne is available by the glass. Individually furnished guest rooms featuring freestanding roll-top baths can be booked.

Awards, accolades & Welcome Schemes

AA Pick of the Pubs