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Facility Reviews by The Eternal

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The Wheatsheaf (Pub, Beetham)

Pleasant pub with accommodation. An old building done up inside in a modern style sympathetic with tradition. Warm and welcoming, but gets busy, due in a large part to the numerous walking opportunities in the Fariy Steps area. 19th November 2023ce

Boot Inn (Hotel, Holmrook, Cumbria)

The Boot Inn used to be called the Burnmoor Inn, but has had a bit of a makeover of recent years. It's a friendly place, and very busy when the campsite is, as it's next door. There is a very pleasant beer garden. There are a good choice of real ales from the Robinson's Brewery of Stockport. The food is excellent, the portions are generous, and I can personally recommend the Lamb Henry. Good value for money, and service with a smile. A pleasure. 23rd July 2010ce

Woolpack Inn (Bed & Breakfast, Holmrook, Cumbria)

The Woolpack is a cracking, friendly boozer, popular with locals and visitors alike. The menu is interesting, although I haven't eaten there, so can't comment on the quality. There are around half-a-dozen real ales on offer, including at least one from their own Hardknott Brewery. It's been tarted up a tad recently, but still retains a nice traditional feel, although with a modern twist. It has a great big beer garden out the front. 23rd July 2010ce

Hollins Farm Campsite (Camping Site, Boot)

Hollins Farm Campsite is in the clutches of the Caravan and Camping Club, but my mate Roy is a member, so a couple of weeks ago five of us, with four non-members got on with a tent each for £6.60 per person for one night on the strength of his membership. Great value. It's an immaculately kept site, and the showers and toilets were spotless.
Some pod thingies are available to chuck a sleeping bag and mat in too.
Very civilized as campsites go. Two pubs are just a few hundred yards away too, and a third just down the road.
22nd July 2010ce

Bayesbrown Farm campsite (Camping Site, Ambleside)

This is a lovely family and couples campsite situated between Ambleside and the head of the Great Langdale valley, kust down the road from Elterwater. 31st August 2009ce

Bell Inn (Pub, Wylye)

This is a lovely old coaching inn, dating from 1373, right in the middle of the quintessential English village of Wylye, next to the church, and with thatched houses all around. It boasts a fabulous, huge fireplace, and is the brewery tap of the Hidden Brewery. The food is superb, all home-cooked, and locally sourced, and the beer is top notch. Ask for a pint of Pint. There's even a beer garden out back, and accommodation if required. Not to be missed. 20th August 2009ce

Bayley Arms (Hotel, Clitheroe)

Cracking food, lovely Lancashire countryside, great beer, and an old, beamed interior, just outside Stonyhurst College. Very traditional. 9th August 2009ce

The Barge Inn (Pub, Pewsey Wilts)

What a cracking boozer - timeless. It'd be good to visit in winter when the woodburner is blazing. Good beer, and a good food menu, although we didn't eat here. At about three in the afternoon in early July, with the sun shining, barges moored, the quiet canal, and Adam's Grave on the skyline it was an idyllic place, quintessentially English. Visit the website:-
http://www.the-barge-inn.com/index.htm
9th August 2009ce

Brotherswater Inn (Hotel, Patterdale)

Belting boozer, with accommodation, and bunkhouse. The huge window affords the imbiber of the real ales an outstanding view up delectable Dovedale to the frowning overhangs of the mighty Dove Crag, and it's got a real fire. There's a nice outside seating area for those rare, balmy summer evenings. By the way, hazel nuts can be harvested in the lower reaches of Dovedale. 20th June 2009ce

Sykeside Camping Park (Camping Site, Patterdale)

Nice campsite, at the northern foot of Kirkstone Pass, with pub nobbut a spit away, and great views of the surrounding mountains, with Dove Crag particularly impressive. Ullswater is nearby, and Brotherswater another spit away. 20th June 2009ce

Scafell Hotel (Hotel, Keswick)

This used to be a basic climbers' boozer, but it's been, sadly, updated. It still provides a welcome to all who come off the hill. A real fire in winter, good beer, with extra guest beers in summer, and open for breakfast and flask-filling in the morning. The old verandah, which was open-fronted, with a corrugated plastic roof has, alas, been incorporated into, the main body of the pub. How I long for those heady summer nights when, after a day of heavy rain, you could drink there outside, with the river roaring below. All good things etc.......but out of the ashes the phoenix awakes, and unless you knew the old Scafell you wouldn't complain. It's just been tarted up a tad. 17th September 2006ce

Kirkstile Inn (Pub, Cockermouth)

A pub with rooms, good food, good beer, good views, and a real fire. It's got its own brewery too. It is set in one of the most beautiful and quiet places in the Lakes. You must visit this. The beer garden id idyllic, as are the views from the long porch-come-drinking area. 9th April 2006ce

Old Crown (Pub, Hesket Newmarket)

A pub with a brewery. Bought by the villagers as a co-operative. Good food, great beer. the Two Fat Ladies visited this on their travels. A good range of beer. I once suppep Medieval Ale there, flavoured with bogwort instead of hops. Interesting. Recommended. 26th March 2006ce

Unicorn Inn (Hotel, Ambleside)

A good selection of Robinsons beers in this cracking boozer, which just happens to have accommodation. Singers perform regulary. 11th February 2006ce

Watermill Inn (Hotel, Staveley)

More choice of real ale thatn you can shake a stick at, plus a micro brewery. A CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular. 11th February 2006ce

Queens Hotel (Hotel, Ambleside, Cumbria)

There's usually a good choice of guest beers on here, but it's not in the 2006 Good Beer Guide. 11th February 2006ce

Travellers Rest (Hotel, Grasmere)

A comfortable, warm Lakeland inn with rooms.
Good food and beer. A real fire adds to the atmosphere.
In summer there is seating outside, overlooking Helm Crag (the Lion and the Lamb).
Just on the northern outskirts of Grasmere village, on the Dunmail Pass road.
4th December 2005ce

The Greyhound Hotel (Hotel, Shap)

A warm, welcoming pub, with a real fire. A good selection of real ales, but at a pricier price than normal, like most Lakeland pubs. It often finds its way into CAMRA's Good Beer Guide, and rightly so. 25th September 2005ce

The Camping and Caravanning Club Site (Camping Site, Salisbury)

This site is situated round the back of the Hudson's Field, below the south side of Old Sarum. It's a bit pricier than I'm used to, but it is a club site. The showers and bogs are spotless, and the tent pitches are on mown grass. It's a pleasant 20 minute walk into the centre of Salisbury, by the river. Alternatively, buses run on Castle Road. Last bus back at night is at 11:15pm and is cheap. 10th September 2005ce

Wasdale Head National Trust Campsite (Camping Site, Gosforth)

A good campsite with showers. It is situated at the very head of Wastwater, and the bottom of the track to Scafell and Scafell Pike, in spectacular surroundings. It's a short walk to the Wasdale Head Inn. 10th September 2005ce

Wasdale Head Inn (Hotel, Gosforth)

This CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular lies at the head of the Wasdale valley. The inn is the birthplace of rock climbing, where, in the latter part of the 19th century, the gentleman classes came to climb on the mountain crags, pioneering the first routes, whilst staying at the Wasdale Head Inn. The pub is home to the Great Gable Brewery, and is a magnet to climbers and fellwalkers to this day. It sits in a dramatic setting, surrounded by steep, soaring, craggy mountains. The valley has the deepest lake, the smallest church, the highest mountain, and the biggest liar. 10th September 2005ce

Wyndham Arms (Pub, Salisbury)

Very friendly street corner local. Home of Hop Back Brewery beers, and a regular in CAMRAs Good Beer Guide. The best pub in Salisbury. A good, honest boozer, you are assured of a welcome. 9th September 2005ce

Amesbury Friar Tuck Cafe (Cafe, Amesbury)

Great for an enormous, greasy fry-up if you've got a hangover. You can make the brekky as big as you want. 9th September 2005ce

Coledale Inn (Hotel, Keswick)

Just off the Whinlatter road, this pub is in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, and serves Yates Bitter, along with beers from Theakstones and Jennings. It has a friendly bar with real fire. The beer garden is a haven of peace in summer. The Georgian bar has a period feel, and the walls are adorned with old engravings and maps of Cumbria, or Cumberland and Westmorland as it was. 9th September 2005ce

Eagle and Child Inn (Hotel, Kendal)

A CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular, this village local serves a changing range of beers from micro-breweries. The menu looks interesting, and there's a real fire blazing during the colder months. In summer there's an idyllic beer garden across the road by the river Kent. 9th September 2005ce

Queens Head Inn (Hotel, Penrith)

A CAMRA Good Beer Guide entry, this is an 18th century pub with two cracking real fires, for which it's won awards. The original home of the Tirril Brewery in 1999, but this has now moved to Brougham Hall, nearby. The Tirril beers are all on sale. There is a beer and sausage festival every year on one weekend in August. 9th September 2005ce

Dog and Gun (Pub, Keswick)

The best pub in Keswick, and a regular entry in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide. Not as pricey as most. Great beer, with Yates Bitter always on, plus guests from micro-breweries. The foods not bad either, especially the Hungarian Goulash, which they've been doing for at least over two decades. 9th September 2005ce

Golden Rule (Pub, Ambleside)

Great back-street boozer, serving the full range of Robinsons' ales in top nick.
A pub with a real fire, a real welcome, and real people. No music, just plain chat. Small, cold pork pies are the only food.
This is a real pub.
1st September 2005ce

Ruskin Museum (Museum, Coniston)

Ruskin Museum in Coniston. Stone axes, plus the finds from Banniside stone circle. Small, but worth a visit if in the area. 1st September 2005ce

Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum (Museum, Salisbury)

Great museum, with plenty of Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age finds and information, plus reconstructions of barrows. A good selection of books to buy too. 1st September 2005ce

The Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel (Hotel, Ambleside)

This basic boozer has thick, whitewashed walls, solid floors, and a cast iron range, which accommodates log fires. Socks and clothes can often be seen drying against it. Being the old hotel stables, some seating is in slate stalls. Seating is on planks on top of stone seats.
A regular in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, the regular beers are Yates Bitter (a must), Jennings Cumberland, Theakstones Old Peculiar, Black Sheep Special, and a real cider on hand-pump, all complemented by a few guest beers.
Basic bar meals are available, but the restaurant of the hotel part is open to non-residents (booking recommended).
The huge painting was done in the 50s, and shows the climber Black Jack festering at Wall End Barn, supping a bottle of ale, whilst cherubs read the Great Langdale rock climbing guide to him. His wife waits patiently at the campsite for his return, whilst the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel sits in the background, beneath the surrounding fells and crags.
1st September 2005ce
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death's dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind's singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.

T.S.Eliot "The Hollow Men"

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