Hawkshead’s Delicious Cafés and Restaurants
With its ancient cobbled streets, whitewashed buildings, quaint shops, literary connections, car-free centre and stunning surroundings, Hawkshead is a lovely place to spend some time in.
If hunger happens to strike when you’re wandering through the village, you’ll be spoilt for choice with…
Everything from cosy pubs to traditional tearooms and cafés
Scroll through and see what tickles your fancy!
Poppi Red
You can find the relaxed and informal Poppi Red café and bistro slap bang in the middle of Hawkshead. It’s open all day and into the evening so you could go for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you were so inclined.
The service is friendly, the décor is charming and the food is delicious – how does Slow braised game casserole sound? Or Seafood laksa? Or what about pizza from the wood-fired oven? Go for breakfast and the Full English will set you up nicely for a day out walking.
Fancy something lighter for lunch? Soup or salad it is – oh, and maybe a side of fries.
Just want coffee and cake? They do that too.
Ginny’s Teapot
If you’re partial to a bit of vintage charm with your vegetarian or vegan grub, then Ginny’s Teapot should be your destination. They let well-behaved meat eaters in too – go on, try the vegan Full English.
Open everyday, the friendly staff dish up soup and sarnies, cakes and scones, pasties and sausage rolls, and jacket potatoes – all washed down with steaming hot cups of tea or coffee.
They also whip up a mean afternoon tea (which needs to be pre-booked) – perfect if you’re celebrating, or just because.
There are a few benches outside, so if the weather’s being kind, you can enjoy a cheese scone in the sun.
Minstrels Gallery
They like a cuppa at the Minstrels Gallery, a traditional tearoom in a 15th-century building on the square in the centre of the village. So much so, there are over 20 types of loose-leaf tea to choose from – and fruit teas, green teas and herbal teas too.
Don’t worry, coffee lovers – they haven’t forgotten you. If you’re feeling peckish, they also serve a selection of freshly made sandwiches, deep-filled toasties, soup, quiche, cakes and scones.
And if you go first thing, you can set yourself up for the day with a sausage (Cumberland, of course) or bacon bap.
Fancy a treat? You can also opt for their take on afternoon tea – traditional or savoury.
The Sun Cottage Chippy
Sometimes it just has to be fish and chips after a day on the fells. And if the end of your walk finds you in Hawkshead in search of some fishy chippy goodness, then The Sun Cottage Chippy will see you right.
You know what’s on the menu – fish, chips, scampi, battered sausages, pies, and mushy peas. But they also dish up salt & pepper squid, spam fritters, burgers, battered black pudding, chicken bites, and doner kebabs. Something for everyone, we think you’ll agree.
You can eat your feast at the tables inside, or get it to go and take it back to your holiday cottage.
The Little Ice Cream Shop
They have a few tables outside in the warmer months, so that counts as a café, right? We don’t need much of an excuse to eat ice cream, especially when it’s as good as the creamy treats the The Little Ice Cream Shop churns out.
You want flavours? Get a load of this gelato – Salted Caramel, Jamaican Rum & Raisin, New York Lemon Cheesecake, Hawkshead Gingerbread, Black Cherry, Chocolate Indulgence, Raspberry Twist – and lots more besides.
And all their milk and cream comes from Cumbrian cows. Now isn’t that moovellous?
They also make sorbets and dairy-free and vegan treats too.
Start Planning your Next Lakeland Retreat
Whether it’s a last-minute grab the kids and get away, or you’re planning to experience the Lakes in the vibrant colours of Autumn.
We’ve got the home-from-home for you.
Feeling inspired?
The Lakeland Retreats guide to Hawkshead
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