Have eaten & drank in the Kirkstile several times as my wife is from Cumbria. As a wee girl, her family used to go there for Sunday lunch & the New Year's Day hunt.

This is was the 1st time we actually stayed there for a couple of nights. In short, it's a fantastic place. Good food (huge portions!), GREAT steak pie, good beer (the Grassmoor is excellent), comfortable, cosy rooms & warm & friendly staff.

Don't go here if you are expecting to sit & watch Sky Sports or listen to loud music.

Go here if you want a place where you can feel like you are detached from the hectic modern world of mobile phones, blackberries, email & the Internet.

We'll be going back for steak pie soon!!

This was my favourite place I stayed at on a recent visit to the UK, situated near to Cockermouth in the Lake District, below the imposing Melbreak and between Loweswater & Crummock Water. It's a 17th century hostelry with low ceilings and stone walls, a tap for the Cumbrian Legendary Ales, and home to some fantastic tasty food. They have a number of on-suite rooms available, with more tasty food served for breakfast. You could spend a number of days here as the area has plenty of walking trails.
Once place I'll be returning to!

On the one hand, you can sit here and enjoy delights such as black pudding in batter, camembert and bacon tart, lovely Ploughman’s with local cheese and home-made bread, unctuous steak pie in mouth-watering gravy – all of which graced our table recently , all of it washed down with a splendid selection of well-kept beers – whilst enjoying glorious, atmospheric views of the surrounding scenery. This was very much the case on the misty, breezy day when we visited, accompanied by friends (who had booked a table) and after a bracing walk around the nearby lake. The only problem is, it doesn’t matter how great your food tastes and how tall the mountain is that looms over your veranda, as long as your attitude to your paying customers is that they’re a tiresome chore. That’s the kind of experience that sours the taste-buds rather quickly and makes one elect for a sandwich and a thermos for the next stroll. The scowling, distracted snob who served our well-behaved and initially appreciative party (and who I think might actually have been the owner) at the Kirkstile wore a face like a smacked bottom throughout our, er, “hospitality experience”; he made us feel as if he wished he was (or we were) somewhere else – which is, of course, where we’ll be headed next time we’re in the vicinity. The walk was wonderful, the food was lovely; but our “host” – and his blunt, brusque colleague (I want to say “accomplice,” actually) who took our order and came with the bill – made me wonder, as I sometimes do in certain UK establishments, how far people can miss the mark when it comes to “service” without actually changing careers. Or do they think the food and location is “enough,” that their customers are somehow “lucky” to be there? (Boy, do I have news for this lot, especially in the current climate.) Anyway, I can’t help feeling the staff we encountered would be happier doing something else; a move which might also allow visitors to enjoy the food and the setting without wanting to make some kind of protest – hence this negative review, the sort I wouldn’t normally bother to write: only, on this particular occasion, my sense is that the sullen “service” here spoiled things for my friends (our vicarious “hosts” for the day out) to some degree. For balance and fairness, our overall experience – the total thing, the walk, the company and the food – netted out to be pretty good; and the admittedly crowded place seemed packed with happy punters, generally. The all-important human interaction with our “hosts,” though; well, that’s another story, and I’ll simply conclude with the old saying that you can complete for yourselves; you know, the one that starts, “If you can’t stand the heat...”

I came across the Kirkstile Inn almost by accident. I was on a walking holiday, based near Cockermouth, and had decided to spend the day near Loweswater. Nearing the end of my walk I called in for a drink. They had a really good selection of Real Ales, some of which are brewed on the premises. I sat out in the garden, enjoying chatting to other walkers, enjoying the scenery, and oh yes, the beer.
I called back there and had a meal as they had looked so appetising. The meal was very good. My only disappointment was the salad. It was very small. However, the beer came up trumps again. I would recommend this Inn, and I will certainly be calling back there this summer.