Storm Desmond

Generally the 2015 season in the Lake District has been good, busy at times, a bit chilly in summer, warm and sunny in autumn and wet in November, so nothing new there!

Just as we start to think about snow topped fells and crisp frosty mornings along comes Storm Desmond, Eskdale was lucky the bulk of the rain fell 10 miles north and a little East. We received about 2 inches in 24 hours, much the same as normal at this time of year. Honister, not far away as the crow flies saw the rain gauges receive more rain than ever recorded in the UK with a swamping 13 inches (341mm). This has caused devastation across the North and East of the Lakes and Cumbria, well documented throughout all forms of media.

The clean up operation is already underway in many places, Cumbrians are hardworking folk and will crack on until the job is done. BUT investment and incentive will be required, The government should play its part, and I sincerely hope it does. Cumbria sees over 16 million visitors a year, spending over £2 billion. ( lots of tax comes from that Mr Cameron) Most of this money stays in the country.

Cumbria is full of small businesses all paying tax in this country so please get your next short break or main holiday booked in the Lake District, brighten up the day for some of the hotels and holiday homes affected by the floods. Talk to them, find out when the right time to come will be, as some areas are still inaccessible.

When booking hotels and BB's please book direct, most places now have online facilities and smaller places will be happier to take bookings by phone than through a booking agent.

Booking agents take at least 15% of the entire booking, that is £15 in every £100 that will not be re-invested in the Lake District and probably not taxed in the UK.

Holiday cottages often choose to use an agent as it makes life easier, so don't feel bad about this third party element. There are even a few local  agents in Lake District including Sally's Cottages which started life with one cottage to let in Eskdale and now handles hundreds of cottages throughout the Lakes

Esk View Holiday Let

Another great way to book a holiday in the Lakes is to book a walking tour through an agent such as Alan Heppenstall. Alan has been arranging self guided walking tours for many years, and we at Brook House Inn have had the pleasure of guests from as far afield as Tasmania trekking through the Lakes on one of his walks.

If you would like to help directly, an appeal fund has been set up to help individuals and businesses affected by the floods please visit The Cumbria Community Foundation just giving page, every little helps.

The Lake District Open For Business All Year

book your next visit now

Summer 2014

This has been one of the best summers since we arrived in Boot,  we have had 10 weeks of dry weather with hardly a drop of rain, so little in fact that the spring at home ran dry! Normal service has now resumed and there is a bit of a deluge going on as I type, a bit windy too, but not a hurricane thankfully.

So whats new? Well we won CAMRA pub of the year for the second time, great for all the family and staff to be rewarded for all the long hours and happy smiles that keep all the customers coming back, not to mention all the superb beer being produced within Cumbria at the moment. There can't be anywhere else with such a small population with some many breweries.
In a direct cross border assault we now also have a distillery within the Lake District National Park, how good is that! Well it will be in a few years time, but in the meantime they have produced a blend of whisky made up of malts from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales called "The One" It is available at Brook House Inn and as a blend hits the spot very nicely. The Lakes Distillery have just installed their copper stills so it wont be long before the first spirit is distilled along with some Lakes Gin and perhaps Vodka. We now have over 180 malt whiskies at Brook House so it is a great place to come and do some sampling, but if you are up near the top of Bassenthwaite call into the distillery for a short tour of the site and a free dram of The One, say hello to Katie @katiemust  and co from me, it wont get you another dram but if everyone buys a bottle, eventually I might get a free one!

In the kitchen we have been having a busy old time, averaging well over 100 meals a day and upto 250 on some busy weekends. We have gained two new suppliers this year,, with Bewleys butchers now only producing sausage we have started using Wilsons in Egremont and have been very pleased so far, with good steaks and very tasty pork, all coming from the local area. On the sea front we now get a regular supply of fresh fish from Steve @ravenglassfish Tonight we had some lovely Monkfish with thai spiced coconut curry sauce, breadcrumbs, lightly spiced vegetables and basmati rice. very well received along with the seared Hake with scallop sauce which is becoming a specials board regular.

Booking agents

As the last few years have been so much quieter than pre recession we made the plunge and finally put our rooms up for grabs on booking.com. Apparently over 50% of all online online hotel bookings in Europe are made through this one agent which gleefully takes 20% commission from the hard working hotelier. Ok so we have had some bookings that we would not have otherwise got, but for every 10 bookings 2 have either not turned up, cancelled at the last minute or got lost and arrived in the middle of the night! If a booking comes through booking.com we take full payment for the stay at the time of booking, if you do not come you will loose this money unless you can claim on your holiday insurance.
It seems that people that book direct are more likely to come even though we only take a £50 deposit per room.
After all we are in the middle of nowhere so it helps to be a little bit independent, be able to read a map as well as use gps which will blithely direct you over Hardknott Pass, which is apparently impassable at night ( it is a hard drive but the surface has been repaired and is used daily by the Mountain goat bus company +Mountain Goat Tours & Holidays)

Tripadvisor now charge £800 per year for a business listing, just so you can link to your own site and not have bookings directed to guess where? booking.com. Even if you pay up they still charge on a cost per click basis for any booking requests that are passed onto your own site. We are lucky to live in an  area with little competition, but I feel sorry for all the small hotels in cities and towns fighting for market share against big chains with lower overheads and more control over booking agents. It feels to me that it is time to take back our industry from the middlemen, wish I new how! But you can help, book direct whenever you book a hotel, if you a have seen it advertised on a booking site tell the hotel the price, most will match it because they will not have to pay the commission to the agent.

Finally lets have a bit more positively in the world, stop reading and writing negative reviews they don't help anyone. Find your independence, go and try it out for yourself.  If you have a problem with your hotel or restaurant or plumber, tell them, not the rest of the world. 

Lovely Year

Weather

As always my blog starts with a weather update and an apology for not writing anything since last September, when I was hoping for an Indian summer, which finally arrived 12 months later!  A patch of snow stayed on Harter fell until the 14th May but from then until now we have had more than our normal share of warm sunny weather, which has made for a lovely season with happy visitors.
As a consequence of the late start to the spring following such a hard winter, it is now noticeable that the leaves have stayed green much longer than usual, so as we come to the end of October the autumn colours are shaping up for a spectacular display. I shall be out with my camera soon!

This was a quick snap whilst cooking breakfasts yesterday, which shows just how green everything is, still waiting for the first frost.

Wine Festival

Over the last couple of years Paddington and Harry Berger at the Woolpack have been holding a wine festival, this year it has been suggested that we take part along with the Boot Inn.

The Dates are November 21st-24th. At Brook House we are going to offer all our wines by the glass, along with some from our suppliers and possibly a supermarket or two.
On Friday 22nd Nov we will have a 6 course set meal with a specially chosen wine with each course, booking is required as numbers will be limited. Our normal menu will be available throughout the festival.
Entry is free although some events at the Woolpack will be chargeable.
The wines are available in standard measures, but also 50ml wine tokens will be available at 3 for £5 or 8 for £10.
2 nights dinner bed and breakfast including the Friday night 6 course meal and wine is just £135 per person.

Winter rates

 Through the winter season rates start at £75 per room for bed and breakfast. Book by phone on 019467 23288 or online from our own website at www.brookhouseinn.co.uk to get the best rates.

Suppliers old and new

We have a new fish supplier this month, Steve @Ravenglassfish, bringing beautiful fresh fish when we want it. The Hake with asparagus and a scallop sauce is selling well, and getting great comments. Fresh crab salad for tomorrow.

Our meat suppliers have stepped up there game with most of the beef, lamb and pork coming from the Lakes or North Lancashire. Claire one of the local farmers brought in some lovely lamb today, which grazed the field pictured above, shame it has to go all the way to High Newton and back to be slaughtered!

 Over the summer we hatched out some duck eggs under a willing but later confused banty hen! The resulting ducks now out number the hens due to loses to mr fox. Only two female ducks out of the six hatched so it looks like duck could be back on the menu for a short while. For reference the sexing of ducks is based on which ones quack, the males apparently have no quack.

New Year still has rooms available at £250 per person for 3 nights dinner bed and breakfast.

Don't forget the Boot Beer Festival 5-8th June 2014.

Thinking about a small whisky festival for next year.

Enjoy the coming festive season, drink sensibly, stay within budget, but don't compromise on quality.

Awaiting Indian Summer

It's a long time since my last post, sorry if you were waiting. I have just read back my last post and note that I was complaining about the rain, so I will just say that it has not rained at all today! Yet.
We have had quite a relaxed summer at Brook House, not as busy as we might like but still lots of lovely customers both old and new. We have been a touch conservative with our beer selection this year, but it is hard to get away from the fact that Cumbria Legendary Ales and Hawkshead  produce probably the best ales in the country, ranging from Windermere Pale at 3.5% to American Invasion at 5% with Brodies Prime keeping the dark hunters happy. Having said that The Boot Beer Festival was its usual successful self, inspite of a touch of rain, we had over 45 real ales on over the weekend at Brook House, with about the same at the Woolpack, and about 30 at the  Boot Inn, which is going through a time of change, still no long term tenants/managers, but we hope it will be fully involved again next year.

We have a new sign out side the front at Brook House, featuring Holly as our new poster girl, yet another entry on her growing list of job titles!

On the penultimate day of the School holidays the sun finally shone for a while so Emma and I set of up the valley to find somewhere to swim. Emma likes water and does not seem to be overly affected by the cold, in fact there has been a roll reversal where I now get cajoled into going swimming. It was well worth the walk to find stunning clear green water and white cascades far past the last home in the valley, this is wild swimming at its wildest, in England at any rate!
The Upper Esk has a selection of large pools and waterfalls culminating in a classic gorge, providing a grade 3 scramble in dry weather, it would have been a more challenging undertaking in these conditions. I love living in this valley!
Talking about the valley, the Tourist board have commissioned a photographic event called Lives in the Landscape which involves a number of photographers exhibiting in the valley and a selection of outdoor installations. I am proud to say Brook House Inn is hosting a collection of my photos, arranged by the curator of Kendal Brewery Arts Centre. The Exhibition is to run from now until the end of October and there are various displays throughout the valley so come and have a nosey. Autumn sunshine is on order, get it while stocks last!

 

A touch of winter at last.

It feels like it has been raining for months..... wait a moment it has been raining for months, 3 dry days since October. This is the wettest winter we have had in the last 14 years and local farmers say the ground has never been so wet, so a chill in the air and a little snow on the tops is a welcome change. I dug my camera out as a pair of sundogs had appeared in the sky and the sun was shaping up for a fine sunset. I hot footed it up Little Barrow to catch the sun setting, which it did - behind a thick bank of cloud! At least the snow on Scafell looked good and to sit on the little hill as the sun went down was very peaceful but note to self, put a torch in the camera bag, you'd think I would know better!

Despite the weather we had a good Christmas and New Year with a saved loin of Soxy going down very well. As usual it is pretty quiet up here at the moment so until the 5th of Feb we are offering rooms at £30 per person for BB quote fb30 and phone to book, also keep an eye on our facebook page for more special offers.

Beer Tasting

On the 29th of December  Brook House arranged a tasting to determine the golden ales representative from the North West which will go forward to the Great British Beer Festival.
Ideally eight beers should have been present but one did not turn up, lost in the Christmas post maybe!

The competitors this year where as follows, 3 from Marble Brewery in Manchester, Bitter, Pint and Lagonda IPA, Bowland Brewery Hen Harrier, CLA Langdale, Hawkshead WPA and Ulverston Flying Elephant.Amongst the judges were two men of the cloth, two chefs and a select group of CAMRA members with taste buds honed to beer sampling perfection.

The task was difficult - honest! The beers where all in great condition with many fruity flavours swilling about amongst the hops. As we tasted we had no idea which beer was which although everyone thought they recognised at least one, but not all the same one! I was sure I had spotted the grapefruit notes of Windermere Pale Ale right up until I tried the next ale which tasted just as fruity and equally as good.

Ably guided by Chris de Cordova we came to appreciate what we were looking for ­ the best overall taste with fruit yes but not dominated by a single  flavour, plenty of character, not too dry or bitter but with enough bite to refresh a weary walker on a hot summers day. The winning beer should appeal to a broad range odrinkers and have that drinkability which brings you back for more.

Suddenly out of the great range of ales a knight in shinning golden armour arose, distinct in its flavours but balanced and refreshing, fruity but with no danger of thinking it is made from some exotic fruit instead of  hops. Finally a long lasting finish and a return to the bar.

Just as it's namesake sits centrally in the heart of the Lake District, Cumbria Legendary Ales Langdale is now the North West Golden Ales entry to the GBBF 2012 and sits permanently on the bar at Brook House Inn.

Throughout the year we will strive to keep Cumbrias best beer on the bar at Brook House Inn, with fair prices and a smile from  our team.

Beer Festival Dates 14th-17th June 2012

New Tennents will be arriving soon at the Boot Inn, lets hope they like good beer!

Bye Bye Hamilton

Tomorrow sees the departure of one of our pigs, named Hamilton by Emma he is our first to go. I am a little bit sad but this was the plan all along. I only hope we can do him justice on the menu this weekend.
It is looking like a quiet week at Brook House Inn, with quite a few rooms available at the weekend so if you fancy a bit of Saddle back pork reared in Boot you know where we are!

Sleepy pigs, Hamilton on the left with Soxy

We have had a great time looking after the pigs, learning about all sorts of things like fencing, pig house building and  how to give injections. On the downside pigs eat constantly so financially it is not really cost effective to rear them on such a small scale, especially when the vets bill and medicine is added into the equation. Having said that, would we do it again? Yes probably!

All 3 pigs watched warily by lesley

Beer, Art, Pigs and TA

Well I'll start with the beer, it is once more time for the Boot Beer Festival, it kicks off on Thursday the 9th June with Curry and live music at Brook House Inn, the Band this year are called Diesel and are from the Ulverston area, they sound pretty lively so looking forward to that after a night cooking curry! We have some great beers to look forward to as usual, mainly from up north but a few from far flung places around the country.

The Eskdale Art Festival has just been held at which I am pleased to say I sold a couple of Photographs, bouyed up by the sales I have been out with my camera today, searching out some hidden waterfalls. I had a lovely walk up the valley to Wha House and then up the side of a pretty stream where I took the snap below.

Our three saddleback pigs are doing well, although not quite ready for the next step. I am amazed by how much feed they go through and find it hard to understand how pork can be sold so cheaply in the supermarkets, mind you in a supermarket you dont usually get to know the name of the pig! ( Hamilton, Podge and Soxy) We have also got a fair menagerie
with 20 odd hens and 3 ducks most of which are now laying, so along with Shirley and Claire we are supplying the pub with all its egg requirements.


Trip Advisor
Has TA changed the way we think about travel? Is nothing left to chance any more and do we believe everything we read?
Now I wrote this just after Easter but decided to let it sit on my desk for a while to kind of cool off. Trip Advisor (TA)  is a website which has reviews about peoples experiences at travel destinations such as Hotels and Inns and would appear to have become quite a popular form of media.
TA seems to have altered the way we book holidays, once upon a time deciding where to go consisted of choosing a destination then checking the beer guide or similar list of places to stay like the tourist board, maybe looking at a map ( also being phased out in the coming years) Then we would chance our luck and our own ability to make the best of whatever happens and enjoy the holiday. I am sure we are all still capable of the last bit but now we have TA along with the internet in general, we can research till we know every last detail. For instance a negative review is written about a spider in the corner of  room 8 at Incy Wincies BB. Maybe only 1 person saw the spider and decided to write a review out of hundreds of visitors, when the next guest arrives there may be a spider or maybe it will be gone, but if there are no good reviews arachnophobs would be put off!
I am not saying that TA is a bad thing, on the contary we have  had some great reviews over the past few years and propably gained a fair amount of trade from it. But as happens from time to time we fail to hit the right note for a customer or group of customers as happened over the Easter holiday this year. We served over 1000 meals to happy customers but it is the 4 unhappy ones we remember and also it is those 4 not the other 1000 that decide to post  reviews on TA.

Trip Advisor is there to be used but I always take the reviews with a pinch of salt, look out for reviews from people who have never posted before, these are often the bad ones and also any which seem too good to be true, that will be the owners Mother!
So Come on if you have had a good meal at Brook House Inn or anywhere else for that matter Please Please get on TA and reset the balance.
TA is not the only review site, we are also on icomparehotels, in fact you can find a review for just about anything. I am not sure if it is a good thing but it is here to stay so the more reviews, preferable positive the better.
I would like to say a big thank you to all the people who have written lovely reviews for Brook House Inn.
The links below should take you to our pages on TA
Brook House Inn Trip Advisor
Brook House Inn Restaurant Trip Advisor
We also have a facebook page

Feast of Strong Ales 11-13th March 2011

Brook House Inn is hosting a tasting session so that CAMRA can decide which beer to send to the GBBF this year. So over the weekend of the 11th-13th March we will have at least 8 beers available ranging in strength from 4-6% This is a great opportunity to try some beers from around the region which due to their strength are not always on the bar in your local. We still have some accommodation available as do some of the other local BB's.

This weekend (25/26th Feb) we have rooms available for the Friday and Saturday nights which due to some rooms already booked on Friday can be booked just for the Saturday night.

Happy New Year

This winter has been the quietest since we arrived, what with the snow and ice early on, the local paper writing the valley was snowed in for 2 weeks when most of our staff and deliveries got in every day! ( The newspaper editor got a bit of an ear bashing from Christine!)  Some of the breweries are getting upset because we have not ordered their beer, but we just haven't needed more stock after New Year.
We have not increased any prices yet after the VAT increase but are starting to see some marked increases in wholesale prices whether vatable or not. Now the snow has melted it is time everyone flooded back to the valley!
Sorry that was a bit gloomy -  but it will be nice to be busy again.


We have got a few events coming up including a Burns Night Whisky Tasting - on Friday 28th Jan 2011

A weekend of Italian themed cuisine for Valentines so book a table on Saturday, Sunday or Monday 14th Feb for a delightful selection of Italian inspired specials

On the 11/12th March we have got a feast of strong ales. We are playing host to the area CAMRA tasting session to pick the North Western representatives for the Great British Beer Festival in the category of "Strong Bitter" I can't tell you which beers will be available (it's a secret) but there will be at least 8 available in the 4 to 6% range - Enjoy

On the home front I am starting to feel like I am taking part in a remake of  "The Good Life" I spend most of my time messing about with the eco-friendly tree eating boiler or trying to get the hens to lay an egg, but spring must be on the way because we got 4 small eggs today and one a little bit smaller than a cadburys mini egg, honestly smaller than a sparrows egg!

We added to our livestock this week with the addition of 3 ducks. People keep asking what sort are they, isn't it obvious - they are white ones!
Next week will see the arrival of our biggest animals ( Lesley says I am not allowed a cow) when we take possession and responsibility for three saddleback pigs. These should be on the menu later this year at brook House, maybe with a duck egg on the side.

Hunting gall bladders and other odd activities

Someone said to me recently "I did not know you were a blogger". Well having not posted for over 3 months "blogger" is probably too strong a word for my occasional utterings.  I thought It was about time I gave it another go, after all it can be added to the list of odd activities that I get involved in. Now for instance I am writing this, nursing a tender back from splitting logs a few days ago, but this morning I was chasing chickens round in circles, something I find I do quite often.
Lesley, Emma and I have moved out of room one at Brook House to a cottage up the road, which had some resident hens and some newly hatched chicks. We are really enjoying the sense of space and the partial outdoor life with the hens and the wood burning heating system.
At Brook House the year is quietening down rapidly, Dad and I have started work on room one bathroom, we were quite surprised to find it had a cast iron bath, we left it in the bedroom only to find that when we came back after lunch it had miraculously found its way outside -thanks to Owain and Phil!
We have had a bit of a change around with the beers on the bar, after 12 years on the bar, Tim Taylor's Landlord has been replaced, this was a hard decision but with prices increasing we decided it would be better to offer a cheaper local brew in these troubled financial times.  "Cumbria Legendary Ales - Langdale" is now a permanent fixture, cheaper it maybe but the quality is excellent and at 4% it provides a good step up from  "Hawkshead bitter", allowing us to have some stronger guests such as "Yates IPA".
In the kitchen we have a new supplier for butchery which has proven to be a good addition. The butcher has introduced some new cuts of meat including a "lamb cradle" which is cut from the leg, we pan fry then roast it and serve very pink with a minted port berry sauce. Also they supply Cumbrian pork which we have been curing and turning into our own bacon. Chicken livers are now also sourced from Cumbria but you do have to look out for those little green gall bladders, they can ruin a lovely batch of Pate!

The valley is looking lush and vibrant. We have had about 40cm of rain since the beginning of August, which has made it difficult for campers and maybe put a few people off coming, hopefully the coming month will see a bit less water and a little more sun as the trees put on their autumnal cloak. All the pubs in the valley are in good shape now and with the ratty still running October is an excellent time to visit Eskdale. We have rooms available for some weekends and during the week.

Off back to my proper job now - time to do a bit of cooking.

Beer Festival and Beyond

Another Beer Festival has come and gone, once more in fine style with good weather and fine folk drinking lots of Britains' finest ales, over 130 real ales in fact!.

This is quite some achievement for a small rural valley like ours. All 3 pubs had a good festival, although we thought that there may have been slightly less people about than last year, but the ones here made up for that by drinking a bit more - well done all of you and thank you for coming.
I would like to thank everyone for their kind messages of support after the terrible events of June 2nd. A few people have suggested they would stay away to give the valley time to settle down and us all time to recover, this is a lovely thought, but I hope I can speak for all the pubs, B+B's,  campsites and cottages in the area and urge everyone to come and visit Eskdale. What we want is to see happy smiling faces back in the valley.
July is looking quiet at Brook House with some weekend vacancies available and plenty of space during the week, to book give us a ring on 01946723288 or go to our online booking page.

Wednesday 2nd June 2010

A day that will be hard to forget for so many people from West Cumbria.
As I am sure everyone is aware a man killed and injured many people on this day. He terminated his journey near Doctor Bridge finally taking his own life.
Just past Brook House  on  the way to the campsite he fired shots at several people, injuring at least two, we brought one lady into the pub and looked after her as best we could until the poilce finally took her off for medical treatment. We brought everyone inside and locked the doors, this was a tense time as we were told by the police that the man was now on foot and armed with a rifle with telescopic sights. Five helicopters were up in the air and at least 15 police vehicles passed by Brook House.
There was a sense of relief when we were given information that the situation had been resolved and everyone could go back to their business, the tourists moved on, staff changed and we continued work. A busy night passed in a blur, avoiding press and helping the police as required.
As the full horror of the day unfolded and the death toll rose a sense of numbness has descended upon many of us as I am sure it has accross the country. When I got up this morning I went outside, the birds were still singing, the cuckoo calling,  nothing has changed but the whole landscape seems softer, almost surreal.
Eskdale has got off lightly, only one death and that being the killer. Harry Berger from the Woolpack Inn has been seriously injured and is in hospital, he was shot whilst in Seascale and has recieved surgery on his arm/hand, as far as I am aware no one else from the Boot was injured.
Our hearts go out to the families and friends of all those killed and injured yesterday, a sad day for everyone.

Beer is Art

The perfect pint, is it displayed in a gallery somewhere? If it was would it have a tight creamy head on top of a bright nutty brown body, or would it be frothy like it had been pulled from the bottom of a mountain waterfall, maybe it would be black as night or pale as a harvest moon. Like art what beer suits one may provoke an adverse reaction in another! Hopfully this years Boot Beer Festival will have something to please everyone.
It is getting towards that time of year when our cellar starts to strain at the seams, jam packed with beer for the festival and a busy week at half term.  But first this weekend sees the Eskdale school turn into an Art Gallery for Eskdale Art, with hundreds of exhibits from local artists and the more famous such as Paul Hopkins. I have just dropped a couple of Photos off (late) and had a quick look at some of the other exhibits and I am glad to say the standard once more looks good.

I like this time of year when we stop worrying about having too much beer and start assessing if we have enough to last the week!
In general only having a small cellar creates an interesting project to mamage the beer, roatating stock, getting it racked etc, at the beer festival this is complicated by the shear volume of beer, this year we have to have 40 different ones on over the festival! so that should be fun!

In the kitchen we are settling back into the routine of being busy, we have some great local suppliers, especially for Cumbrian meat, but one of the best things for me at this time of year is to be able to go outside and pick fresh herbs from the garden. Also Sarah and Shaun now have a garden full of rhubarb so Eskdale rhubarb crumble is back on the menu!
The Boot Beer Festival kicks off on Thursday10th June 2010 at Brook House Inn with a curry night and music from Leather and Lace.

Spring is in the air - my mistake it is just a passing shower!

First off -a bit of breaking news, a few minutes ago I got an email which said simply "congratulations"! After a bit of digging I found out that we have been awarded CAMRA Branch pub of the Year for West Cumbria. It is always good to get an award, but this is a rare honor as the usual recipient is the Kirkstyle Inn at Loweswater - hard to beat such a good pub when it brews some of the best ale in the county! We are finding it hard not to have a beer from Loweswater on the bar, and when they are they dont stay long.


So now back to the title of the post, the daffodils are finally in bloom and the temperature rose above 10 C for the first time since the 20th November 2009, having said that the high fells still have deep snow lying especially on shaded slopes and the summits. The top of Scafell has had snow visible on top from the 20th December - a full 3 months, certainly ther longest period in the 12 years we have been here.

Here is Foxes Tarn just a couple of weeks ago, and below is Owain having fun in the snow

Spring may be just about here but it is still pretty cold on the tops so if you are coming up for Easter,  pack the hats and gloves. I went for a dive in Wastwater yesterday and the water temp was still only 4 C, pretty cold hands after half an hour.

Valley News :-  Congratulations to Clare on the birth of daughter Kimberley.
The Woolpack has now changed hands, Harry Berger The previous landlord of the Boot Inn is the new Owner. The pub is expected to re-open later this week.
The King George remains closed still with a for sale sign outside.
 Snow and Ice is gone from the passes so all routes into the valley are now open.
Boot Beer Festival dates are 10th-13th June 2010

Brook House in the Paper!

Just a quick post, ( two in one month seems a bit extravagant and a little wasteful, would n't want people to think I had nothing better to do.) to highlight an article written about Brook House Inn and the fact that someone persuaded me infront of the camera, which is pretty unusual. Anyway here is the link- Whitehaven News  please have a read whilst the link still works. I would like to say a big thanks to Grainne Jakobson the author and owner of Woodend Cookery near Egremont, and to Mike the photographer for the great pictures.

Cheers
Gareth

Rhinos in the Bar

First of all Happy New Year to everyone.
It is a bright sunny morning with a touch of frost up here in Boot, I was going to write about Hardknott and Birker fell roads both being open again but as it is so cold this morning I will leave that for another day!
We had our busiest night of the year so for on Thursday when the Leeds Rhinos first team came to Eskdale instead of Florida for their pre season training camp! The players were staying at the YHA and the staff were here at Brook House Inn. I hope they had a good  night I know we did, none more so than Phil Baker one of our local chefs who is a serious rugby fan. He got to meet some of his heros like Great Britain captain Jamie Peacock

and a player for whom like Phil size is not an issue - legendary Leeds and GB scrum half Rob Burrow. Rob has played 270 games for Leeds, represented Yorkshire, England and Great Britain and was in the team in 2007 for the series whitewash of  New Zealand.

The Rhinos came to the area not just because it is friendlier than Florida, sells Tim Taylors and Hawkshead Beers, and is several hours closer to Leeds, but to help promote rugby in the local schools, raise the profile of the game in Cumbria and to play Whitehaven on Sunday 24th Jan at the Whitehaven Recreation ground stadium. I am a bit split as to who to cheer for on Sunday, my daughter was born in Leeds when we lived in Otley, I've been in Cumbria for 12 years now but in my heart I'm still a Lancashire lad! maybe I should stay in the kitchen.
Anyway thanks to the Rhinos for entertaining us on Thursday and the safe return of the fox and squirrel! Good luck tommorow.

Road Conditions

Just a quick update about roads in the area. After several days with snow lying in the valley the road upto Boot is now clear of snow, a few spots of ice remain but it is passable in any type of vehicle.
Hardknott pass is closed, do not enter the valley from that direction!
The Ulpha-Birker Fell road should also be avoided, adventurous people have come over in proper 4x4's but as the snow melts there is the danger of sheet ice forming especially at night and in the mornings.
The best route into the valley is via Holmrook then Irton and on to the Bower House, this avoids the hill from Santon Bridge although it is raining at present and I expect that most low lying roads will be clear by lunchtime today.

Merry Christmas
Gareth

Seasons Greetings

Well the decorations and Santas have been in the shops for a month now so I feel happy to pass on some Christmas cheer! This week has seen the first snow of the winter only on the fells, but that is the best place for it. Monday dawned cold and clear, a trip up Scafell Pike was already organised with the possibility of a winter route. Just to be clear "winter route" to me means a grade 1 gully filled with snow not an ice smeared precipice! So I was a bit perturbed when my mate Ben turned up with a boot full of shiny climbing gear and even a spare helmet for me. Not wanting to seem rude I offered to carry the helmet and let him carry the expensive climbing gear.




It really was a great day, we were at Hollowstones at the foot of Pikes crag by about 11.30am and the sun would have been shining if it wasn't on the other side of the mountain. That is the beauty of this crag, no sun in the morning to melt the snow! With about 6 inches of snow lying and more in small drifts we chose to ascend via Long Gully, this is the obvious line up the face that can be seen from the lake and turned out to be an enjoyable easy grade 1 climb.
Looking down from the top with the temp at -5c we were glad to be up there and not diving in the lake!


Back at Brook House Inn, the decorations will be going up soon, the damson vodka is maturing nicely and New Years eve menu is finally written

New Years Eve Dinner 2009
Appetizer
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North Atlantic seared Scallops with cauliflower puree & pancetta foam
Goat’s cheese Rarebit with beetroot chutney
Smoked Salmon tartare with fennel crackers & red pepper salsa
Rabbit & pistachio terrine with salad leaves & piccalilli
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Black vodka martini sorbet
Tomato soup
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Halibut fillet with home smoked brown trout mousse,
lime hollandaise, garlic potato cake and wrapped greens.
Roasted partridge with an air-dried ham coat, pheasant stuffing and duck leg confit jus, celeriac potato cake and honey parsnips.
Venison medallion with girole mushrooms, balsamic berry reduction, celeriac potato cake and honey parsnips.
Lightly smoked tofu marinated in Islay malt, served on a bed of spiced red cabbage with potato and almond tarts.
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Clementine Syllabub with Ginger Tuille crisps & shot of orange Muscat
Mille-feuille of Chocolate cream & crème patisserie with a raspberry coulis
Egg Nog Trifle with boozy berries, Chantilly cream & toasted almonds
Maderia Poached Pear tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream & espresso syrup
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Cumbrian cheese board
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Champagne at midnight
Please arrive 7 for 7.30pm
£47.50 per person

If you would like to come please remember booking and pre-ordering is required.

On another note the King George appears to have closed its doors for the time being and the Woolpack is closed until next season. Brook House is open all day every day except Christmas Day and The Boot Inn is open from 4pm daily.

Changing Scenes

Finally I have got round to updating my photo gallery, adding some more pictures and redesigning the web pages. I have even put them on their own site at www.gareththornleyphotography.co.uk. Bit of a mouthful that address but it does what it says on the tin so to speak!
Back at Brook House more changes are afoot, with Sarah, Shaun and the boys moving out of the carpark kennels and into a house in the village. This will give the boys a bit of space to grow up in and they should sleep better when not being disturbed by cars leaving the carpark late at night!
Lots of winter jobs to be done this year, not least of which may be a new kitchen floor, if this goes ahead we will probably be closed for the best part of a week in January.

We have had a pretty hectic season, especially through September which was the busiest one yet. So I would like to say thank you for supporting us through the year and if you have stayed in this country instead of going abroard, well done, give yourself a pat on the back and please come again next year! I know it can be a bit wet sometimes and you might not get an all over tan, but that is what makes it our green and pleasant land.


Whilst I am giving thanks it would be completely unjust not to praise our wonderful staff, we have a great bunch working for us here, always ready with a smile when serving customers, and grafting hard in the kitchen to turn out so much good food, thank you one and all.

Rain, rain go away

So I have just looked back at last August and I see that this wet weather is becoming a bit of a trend, so, fingers crossed it should stop raining in about a weeks time!
I am pleased to report that the Great British public have not been put off by the inclement weather and this summer has been just about as busy as last, with the campsites packed for most of the holidays.
Owain and I once again managed a descent of the Esk in our "raft" which proved most entertaining especially to those watching from the banks of the river. The water level was higher than any previous trips and we came close to being flipped on several occasions! The water was moving so fast it was difficult to find places to stop and empty the raft, we did not hit any rocks on the way down but did have to fend off plenty of trees!

We have had 6 or 7 beers on for most of the summer with the beers from Loweswater brewery finding a place on the bar quite frequently, Loweswater Gold and LPA being most popular, but I am looking forward to trying some of their dark one which we should have on soon.

As Easter was my last post I should mention what a great success the beer festival was, we had over 40 beers on just at Brook House and not much left by Monday morning! Next year is the 10th Boot Beer Festival, it would be nice to mark it with something special, but I will be happy with the same warm weather and great customers which attended this years festival.
The beer of the festival was chosen by 2 stalwarts of the festival circuit from Preston who judged Rudgate Brewery Revel to be best.

The Roosters (great local band) played at the Festival this year and went down a treat, so we have provisionally booked them to come back in early November when we shall have a curry night with music and maybe a few extra beers (but not a winter ale festival!)

Dates will follow soon, as will Christmas and New Years Eve menus. Quiz nights are every other sunday, next one on the 6th September. Mid week breaks are available from 1st Nov please see here for details