‘Great hotel, great food,’ enthuse American readers in 2019, rating Gary and Donna MacRae’s ‘Lakeland gem’ as the ‘best hotel of our five-week European trip – and we stayed in some superb places’. Sitting above Rosthwaite, with views across the Borrowdale valley to Scafell Pike and Great Gable, the Victorian house was visited regularly by Hugh Walpole, providing inspiration for the family home in Rogue Herries. Expect less drama today. The ‘wonderful hosts’ extended a ‘warm and very personal greeting’ before ushering readers to an ‘immaculately appointed’ room, with ‘good views of surrounding hills, a carafe of sherry, home-made chocolates and shortbread’. Restraint is called for, however. The ‘engaging, discreet and efficient’ MacRaes preside over the ‘charming dining room’, while Donna and new chef Darren Cornish, a MasterChef finalist, use seasonal, locally sourced ingredients in such dishes as Herdwick lamb saddle, crisped breast, king carrot, lamb jus. An ‘excellent’ breakfast, including a full Cumbrian, fuels fell walks from the front door. ‘The hosts’ undoubted aim is to ensure every guest comes away with a powerful glow of satisfaction.’ (David Dalton-Leggett, and