Cumbria and the Lake District have one of the most distinctive food and drink identities in England. Three products alone, Cumberland sausage (PGI protected since 2011), Cartmel sticky toffee pudding, and Grasmere gingerbread, are known across the world. Add Kendal mint cake (carried to the summit of Everest in 1953), Herdwick lamb, salt marsh lamb from the Cartmel peninsula, and a brewery and distillery scene nestled among some of the most dramatic scenery in England, and you have a county that takes food provenance as seriously as it takes its landscape.
The dairy producers reflect the landscape. Low Sizergh Barn near Kendal makes its own Kendal Creamy and Kendal Crumbly cheeses from milk produced on the farm and runs one of the most celebrated farm shops in the North West. Torpenhow Cheese Company produces organic cheese from Jersey-Friesian milk on the northern edge of the Lake District. Winter Tarn Dairy is a small organic free-range farm near Appleby.
The butchery tradition is strong. Cranstons in Penrith is a Cumbrian institution sourcing from over 100 local suppliers. Higginsons of Grange-over-Sands was voted Best Butcher in Britain. Sillfield Farm near Kendal is run by the Gott family, respected leaders in artisan food production, producing wild boar and award-winning sausages.
The brewing scene is scattered across the fells and valleys. Hawkshead Brewery started in a barn in 2002 and now produces over a million litres a year at Staveley Mill Yard. Coniston Brewing produces Bluebird Bitter behind The Black Bull pub, named after Donald Campbell speed record attempt. Keswick Brewing uses sheep wool in its process. Ennerdale brews with pure valley water. The Lakes Distillery at Bassenthwaite produces award-winning whisky, gin, and vodka in a Victorian farmstead and has become one of the top visitor attractions in the Lake District.
Grasmere Gingerbread has been made to a secret recipe since the 1850s and is sold from a tiny shop beside the churchyard. Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding started in the back kitchen of a village shop. Hawkshead Relish produces award-winning chutneys and pickles. Carvetii Coffee roasts small batches at Threlkeld near Keswick.
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