We were excited to be invited to take a tour of the new Lakes Distillery and think many of you will enjoy it as much as we did. Located on the edge of Bassenthwaite Lake, the distillery has been created from an old 1850s Victorian Farm. Rennovated to extremely high standards and boasting a beautiful bistro and shop, this is more than just a distillery. We enjoyed a half hour tour where we were shown where the whiskey was made and watched a short presentation on how the distillery came to be. It was interesting to see and the tour was well conducted, at the end, we each received a sample to taste of one of their spirits of our choice. Ken, of course, enjoyed sipping on "The One", their blended whiskey, and Vicki indulged in a sampling of The Lakes Gin... excellent.
The Bistro deserves a mention of it's own, having won the 2015 OpenTable Diners Choice award. It's open for reservations daily from 11am-9pm. We were impressed to see local Carvetti Coffee on the menu, and although we didn't indulge, a delicious looking selection of cakes.
All in all, a great visit and we came home with a little selction box of all 3 Lakes Spirits - a lovely gift.
(Please note, this is perhaps not a family friendly activity due to the high level of alcohol fumes in the distillery itself)
Website: http://www.lakesdistillery.com/en/ or Bistro: http://www.bistroatthedistillery.com
Postcode: CA13 9SJ
Distance: 36 miles
Approx 1 hour