Finding a place for lunch in Bassenthwaite

The really great thing about having a Good Pub Guide in the car is you can find somewhere nice to have lunch wherever you are. So, after a morning walk to view the osprey nest at Dodd Hill and a short walk (verdict: Blue Walk is possibly the most boring walk ever), it was an easy decision to ignore C's pleas to stop at the Ravenstone Lodge Coach House and Restaurant ("British favourites with a twist") and head for the Sun Inn at Bassenthwaite.

I turn off at the Bassenthwaite sign, pass a few buildings and then find we are on a narrow country land. The Bassenthwaite Community Hall is on the left, but no more buildings for another half mile when we hit the village of Bassenthwaite, though hamlet would be a more fitting description. No sign of a pub, so I follow the road for village centre. No people around. No vehicles. It is only marginally more inviting than the hillbilly homestead in Deliverance. A cat sitting in the road watches us pass by with supreme disinterest. Eventually I spot The Sun on the side of the building on the right and pull over. The place is closed. During the school summer holidays!

No worry - there's another Good Pub at Braithwaite, around the other side of the lake. And the road is close to the water so we should get some good views. No such luck. We're on the A66 and the views are hidden by a strategic belt of trees. Can't have drivers getting distracted by the landscape. Now here we are approaching Braithwaite,and sure enough there's the Middle Ruddings Country Inn visible just off the main road to the right with plenty of time to take a right turn and into the car park. Where, strangely, there are no other vehicles. This, too, is closed!

There is nothing for it but to head to Keswick, where we will have to pay for car parking, but which hosts the 'Dog and Gun' ("busy town centre pub with a changing selection of six real ales ...bar meals served all day"). We park up and stroll through the market place, now very hungry. On the window of the 'Dog and Gun' is displayed their latest Food Hygiene Rating. "TWO stars!" exclaims Ben. "I've never seen one that low! I am NOT eating in there!".

Nevertheless I breeze in one door - and exit the other as I observe there are no spare seats at all.

We end up having a very pleasant lunch in a cafe. Perhaps I won't take my Good Beer Guide next time we go on holiday.