L'Enclume

This place is in deepest rural Cumbria, but chef Simon Rogan really has earned the Michelin stars that adorn his flagship restaurant-with-rooms in Cartmel by creating simply amazing food, served in a chic conversion of what was once the medieval village blacksmith’s. Beautifully presented menus run through a series of searingly original dishes, with old English herbs, hedgerow flowers, mousses, foams and jellies much in evidence. We say "menus", but they've done away with such things – preferring instead to "cook whatever is available to us at that moment in time". And as there's a personal six-acre farm nearby dedicated to growing produce for the restaurant, you can count on searingly fresh seasonality in every artfully constructed dish. It’s an approach that has garlanded awards by the bucketload, and lavish guest rooms boast the same signature style and attention to detail. A dozen beautiful rooms are all individually furnished and lovingly detailed, with an antique dresser or a designer bathroom, art deco style or country French character. The original timber floors have been left in place in some, while others have views of the garden, village or Priory. Not all rooms are in the main house, where the restaurant is sited, but even in the others – occupying other equally venerable buildings in the village – you’re only a two-minute walk from culinary greatness.