Linthwaite House Hotel

Linthwaite House Hotel

On the terrace at Linthwaite House, the Coniston Fells rise across Lake Windermere while a sculpture called Sit rests on the lawn as if deciding whether to wake up, one of three works, by Angus Taylor, William Peers and Dylan Lewis, scattered through the 14 acres of gardens and private woodland that set this hilltop hotel apart from every other country house in the Lake District. That is the one thing peers here do not have: an actual art collection, chosen by the same family behind the Leeu wine estates in Franschhoek, rather than prints bought for the corridors. Inside, 30 rooms across three floors keep things intimate, and dinner runs through Henrock, where Simon Rogan's kitchen earned a Michelin Plate, or the more relaxed Bar and Conservatory, where Gerald van der Walt's menu and the lobster roll get eaten on a terrace looking down the lake toward the fells. A woman here for hiking, fishing or a round of golf, tee time booked ahead, will find the gym, the massage room and the fireplaces in the rooms doing quiet work. Families get a playroom and babysitting; dogs cost twenty five pounds a stay. What it will not do is host a stag or hen weekend, by policy, and there is no twenty four hour reception, so late, unannounced arrivals are not really the plan here. Three kilometres from Windermere's centre, it sits close enough to Bowness Pier and Blackwell for a walk, far enough to keep the lawn quiet. Ask for Italian at the desk if that helps. The fells will still be there in the morning, doing nothing, which is rather the point. Linthwaite House sits on a Windermere hilltop where sculptures scatter across 14 acres of garden, a touch no Lake District peer matches. Henrock's Michelin Plate cooking suits food-focused travellers; stag and hen parties are turned away by policy. Dogs cost £25 a stay, and reception isn't staffed round the clock.