The Black Swan Hotel - Ravenstonedale - 6th July

With the weather crappy we decided on going home a day early so for our last day we needed some indoor activities, so off we went to the Vue cinema in Carlisle to see The Amazing Spiderman (review is here).

I wore my Shrek 3D glasses and ate much popcorn.

We decided, as it was out last night, to go for a meal in the local village to our campsite, Ravenstondale. We opted for The Black Swan Hotel. It was recommended by Rosie and we were warned we would have to book in advance, we thought we'd take our chances at 6pm. 

We arrived and were told that there was room in the Lounge area so we took our seats and perused the menu (with Tim pretending to be a stag in between). It's a beautiful hotel, the staff are friendly and attentive and the place was soon buzzing with guests, a large part of which appeared to consist of an American National Geographic tour group, who were pleasant enough. 

We started with olives to share £2.95. My only problem being, not enough green olives, yet this is always the way when you order olives in restaurants, I know the green ones are more expensive but a 50/50 split would be nice.

 

For a starters:

I had Thornby Moor goats cheese stumpy which was delicious, the balsamic onion topping it off perfctly. £5.95

 

Tim had crab, peppadew and spring onion croquette, which I had a sneaky bit of and it was lovely, I'm not too fond of crab but this wasn't too bothersome for me. £5.95

 

Mains time!

I went for the beef, sliton and green peppercorn pie. I don't think I've tasted a pie quite like it, the stilton wasn't too heavy being melted just under crust, the beef was cooked to perfection and it came with peas (did I tell you how much I love peas?!) £11.95

 

Tim had the rather gorgeous looking pan fried lemon and black pepper bass fillet. I did have a sneaky mouthful and it was a melt in the mouth moment. Very yummy with the chive risotto setting it off a treat. £13.95

 

Then Tim's ears did that super cute thing the do when he eats too much, they go all red. Adorable! 

 

After a half an hour break it was time to tackle the pudding list (I know, I know, filling our faces as we were, but the last day of the holiday is a special one!). 

I opted for the almond bread and butter pudding with custard. Bread and butter pudding is one of my favourite deserts and I wasn't at all let down with this glorious pudding £4.50

 

Tim went for the gooseberry sponge with ice-cream which was again delicious. £4.50

All deserts are made on site at he black swan and aren't bought in like a lot of places offering home cooked food will tell you (trust me, I used to assistant chef in a pub many moons ago). 

It was a great experience dining in this lovely hotel, the atmosphere was very relaxed and the surroundings beautiful and comfy. Throughout the meal we were asked if everything was okay, asked if we required further drinks etc, even when the place was packed we were still attended to. It is no surprise that the restaurant, lounge and bar get fully booked every evening of the weekend.

I'd love to go back and stay in the hotel at some point, hopefully something we will do in the future.

Low Greenside Farm, Ravenstonedale - 2nd July

We knew the weather would be terrible, we knew it would rain for a week. We crossed our fingers it wouldn't be too bad....

We arrived at Low Greenside Farm campsite and saw the note saying we coudn't drive onto the field as it was too waterlogged, we gulped a little, then the rain started. So we opted for the best bit of grass we could find and not too far away from the car so we wouldn't have to dash about in the rain as much.

Putting the tent up in the rain wasn't too much of a mission, although we were happy when we didn't have to keep making trips with the wheelbarrow left out for us back and forth to the car.

At £6 per person per night, the campsite is extremely good value, added to the fact that you can have campfires in the pits provided, although we only managed one and only for a few hours with the inclement weather.

There is  a free hot shower  to use in the static caravan on site which is also the toilet block although there is another toilet available in the courtyard near the house. It also serves as a little tourist information point which is kept very up to date. Roise does a fab job of keeping the place spick and span and she also rents out books for local walks for a £5 returnable deposit.

There is also a very old family sheep called Laura who has arthritis, sometimes sitting in  the field by the caravan, she's a lovely old gal!

 

Our super awesome tent

 

fire pit, without fire....and with (even if it only lasted an hour before the heavens opened) 

 

The moody view from our tent 

We decided not to do anything on our first day, the weather was crappy, we were still shattered after the Stone Roses and we had a cool box full of food and the net book was fully charged and ready to go with podcasts. 

Tim did take some time out to fly his kite though! 

Full set of our photos can be found here