by Have you revisited somewhere that was big – literally and figuratively – in your childhood? The bedroom that seemed to him, aged six, a huge empire to rule, or the climbing frame of the neighborhood higher than Everest. Look at them again, at 40, and they seem so paltry and diminished that your brain and heart can’t make sense of them.
Ullswater is the exception to that rule. My husband and I made childhood visits to the lake that forever changed our imaginations. But as we pulled up outside the Brackenrigg Inn, we all – kids and adults alike – let out an involuntary “woooaaah”. This newly renovated and reopened country pub is set on a hillside just above the water. Even the car park has panoramic views. And they are as epic to middle-aged me as they were 30 years ago.
Which is great, really, because the Brackenrigg is designed to make babies out of all of us. Its reincarnation has been staged at Elsewhere, the Loch – the luxury family hotel with a cult following that is barely a five minute walk from the inn, down a private grassy path and across a (slightly busy) road. The hotel’s very successful formula is to make it really interesting, easy and fun to get out in the hills and on the water.
The Brackenrigg is very different – a cosy, old country inn in contrast to a large, glassy, modern hotel. All the furniture and paintings in the bar and restaurant were sourced from local auctioneers and antique shops. The walls are painted in deep greens and blues taken from the outside world, and warm ambers inspired by vintage Ordnance Survey maps.
Three working fires will keep the place toasty before winter. Upstairs, the seven bedrooms feature iron frame beds, glorious natural bedding and characteristic oil painting. Ours – the only family suite – had views to die for from the master bedroom and from the sweet second bedroom (the walls of which are nicely plastered with pages from vintage books, decorated about the Lake District, from Wainwright to Wordsworth).
Everything is not as gloriously luxurious as in the main hotel. The family suite is located above the bar, so noise is filtered from here and from the road outside. Milk (for your morning coffee or tea) comes in a saucepan. And breakfast is a simple buffet that could use some padding. But the Brackenrigg is also cheaper – £100 a night – than any family accommodation down the hill.
Guests have equal access to the hotel’s amenities (an indoor infinity pool, a water sports center, a glorious pizza restaurant in a glass house overlooking wildflowers and water…) And the spirit of transcendence is so visible and infectious. The Brackenrigg, like Elsewhere, you want to play.
At supper – a pub-perfect menu of ploughmans, scotch eggs and desperate Dan-sized slices of rich pie, all expertly executed – I looked up to see teenagers at tables across the dining room playing games. traditional wooden like chess and I closed the box. . There are no phones in sight. A real miracle.
We chose to walk down to the hotel jetty, slip into wetsuits and take out stand-up paddleboards into the mystical and mysterious heart of the lake (where the kids immediately broke the silence by landing on their parents). World-renowned open water swimming champion Colin Hill has just launched guided waterfall floats for those aged 11 and over, starting from the same jetty. Ullswater Yacht Club will also collect you from here and take you – very excitingly – by speedboat to the other shore of the lake, where their sailing school offers individual or group lessons and delicious sessions.
Having so many opportunities to play together as adults, teenagers and “boarders” (that’s what we mean, by the way, if the 13-year-old in your life isn’t yet on the you know). Dogs too – many of the Brackenrigg rooms are fido friendly and down on the lake we passed some fairies on paddle boards.
Since the Inn only has one family room, it would be a great place to take a teenager – old enough to have their own room and enjoy their own space – for some solo TLC . Still, there’s plenty of adventure for smaller guests too. The kids’ club (free to book for Brackenrigg guests) is one of Britain’s best clubs for children under 12, and now has an open forest school where children can build gardens and roast bogs in the afternoon before walking back up the hill and rolling in. a bed at the Inn. Stomach and souls sated.
Fundamentals
A family of four can stay at the Brackenrigg from £325 per night, B&B (there is a £10pp surcharge if you want the larger breakfast down in the main hotel). Watermillock, Penrith CA11 0LP (01768 486442; another.place/the-brackenrigg-inn)
