The Best Pubs in the South Lakes and Kendal Area

One of the reliable pleasures of staying in the south Lakes is that the pub culture here is genuinely excellent. Not the faded-carpet, microwaved-lasagne version that gives English pubs a bad name elsewhere — but proper, independent, locally-sourced food, well-kept ale, and rooms that feel like they’ve been thought about.

These are the ones worth planning around, all within easy reach of The Hen House.

The Hare and Hounds, Levens

Distance from The Hen House: 10 minutes Best for: The closest genuinely excellent option, dinner, a weekend stay

The closest pub on this list that’s also genuinely worth a special trip, not just a convenient one. The Hare and Hounds is a 16th-century coaching inn in the village of Levens, in the Lyth Valley, run by Becky and Ash Dewar since 2013 with the kind of care that shows in every detail — a well-judged cocktail list, a strong selection of local cask ales, hand-rolled pizzas, and bedrooms if you want to turn dinner into a proper night out.

The atmosphere strikes an unusual balance: genuinely characterful and full of original features, but with enough polish that it never feels rough around the edges. Dogs and muddy boots are explicitly welcome. Levens Hall and its gardens are a short walk away if you want to make a full afternoon of it.

The Sun Inn, Kirkby Lonsdale

Distance from The Hen House: 15 minutes Best for: Dinner, Sunday lunch, a long afternoon

If you only go to one pub further afield during your stay, make it this one. The Sun Inn occupies a seventeenth-century coaching inn on Kirkby Lonsdale’s market square and has, over the past decade, become one of the most consistently excellent pub-restaurants in the north of England.

The food is proper — not gastropub-trying-too-hard, but well-cooked British dishes using regional suppliers with a kitchen that knows what it’s doing. The bar serves a rotating selection of cask ales and a short, well-chosen wine list.

The town itself is worth spending time in before or after. Devil’s Bridge, a medieval arched crossing above the Lune gorge, is a ten-minute walk. Ruskin’s View — the prospect across the river valley that John Ruskin called one of the finest in England — is visible from the churchyard at the top of the market square.

Dogs are welcome in the bar. Booking is essential for weekends and advisable on weekday evenings.

The Royal Barn, Kirkby Lonsdale

Distance from The Hen House: 15 minutes Best for: Pizza, a relaxed pint, a more casual alternative to The Sun Inn

The home of Kirkby Lonsdale Brewery and one of the liveliest spots in town. The Royal Barn occupies a converted barn in the town centre with a long bar, a cosy mezzanine, and a genuinely impressive range of cask and keg ales brewed on site alongside guest beers from across the region.

The food is built around stone-baked sourdough pizzas — fermented for 36 hours and finished in just sixty seconds, properly Neapolitan in style — alongside panuozzo sandwiches made on homemade Italian bread. It’s a lower-key, less formal alternative to The Sun Inn just down the road, and works particularly well with dogs in tow; the atmosphere is relaxed enough that a well-behaved dog under the table barely raises an eyebrow.

The Highwayman, Burrow

Distance from The Hen House: 20 minutes Best for: A characterful dinner just south of Kirkby Lonsdale

An eighteenth-century coaching inn just over the Lancashire border, a few minutes south of Kirkby Lonsdale proper. The Highwayman has the kind of interior that does a lot of the work on its own — flagged stone and wood floors, open fires, a garden room opening onto a walled terrace — and a kitchen that takes regional sourcing seriously, with a menu built around named local producers.

Dogs are welcome, and the pub has built a strong reputation locally for both its Sunday roasts and its gluten-free menu, which is unusually thorough for a traditional pub.

The Punch Bowl, Crosthwaite

Distance from The Hen House: 20 minutes Best for: A special dinner, celebration, long lunch

A Michelin-starred pub in the Lyth Valley — a distinction it has held for over a decade and continues to deserve. The Punch Bowl is the kind of place that manages the difficult trick of being properly excellent without feeling remotely intimidating. The dining room is comfortable, the service is warm and knowledgeable, and the food is technically accomplished without ever losing sight of the fact that this is, at heart, a pub.

The menu changes seasonally and leans heavily on Cumbrian producers. The wine list is one of the best in the region.

Book weeks in advance for weekend dinners. Lunch midweek is easier to get into and almost as good.

The Masons Arms, Strawberry Bank

Distance from The Hen House: 25 minutes Best for: A romantic dinner, an overnight stay, sweeping views

Tucked away on a quiet hillside lane in Cartmel Fell, with no other buildings nearby and views across the Winster Valley that stretch for fifteen miles on a clear day, the Masons Arms has built a reputation as one of the best gastropubs in Britain. The downstairs bar is cosy and traditional — log fires, exposed beams, a rotating cask selection from Cumbrian breweries — while the upstairs dining room makes the most of the view.

Dogs are warmly welcomed, including in the bedrooms if you decide to extend the evening into an overnight stay. Worth knowing before you go: mobile signal is sparse and parking is limited, so allow a little extra time and patience on arrival.

The Black Bull, Sedbergh

Distance from The Hen House: 25 minutes Best for: Post-walk pint, lunch, a relaxed evening

Sedbergh’s best pub and one of the most straightforwardly enjoyable on this list. The Black Bull is unpretentious — stone walls, proper ale, good food without ambition that outstrips the kitchen — and completely at ease with muddy walkers arriving off the Howgills.

The Howgill Fells rise directly behind the town and are accessible on foot from the high street, which means the pub works perfectly as a before-and-after bookend to a day on the fells.

Dogs very welcome throughout.

The Plough, Lupton

Distance from The Hen House: 10 minutes Best for: A local pint, easy dinner, first or last night of a stay

The closest pub to the property and a reliable local in the best sense. The Plough sits in the small village of Lupton, just off the A65 between the M6 and Kirkby Lonsdale, and serves as the kind of proper country pub that the south Lakes does well — good food, local ales, no fuss.

It’s the right choice for arrival evenings when you don’t want to drive far, or for a final dinner before an early departure the following morning. Dogs are welcome.

The Wheatsheaf, Beetham

Distance from The Hen House: 15 minutes Best for: Lunch, a quiet midweek evening

A handsome sixteenth-century inn in the village of Beetham. The Wheatsheaf is quieter than the others on this list — more of a local regular’s pub — which makes it excellent for a midweek lunch without needing to book.

The Royal Hotel, Kirkby Lonsdale

Distance from The Hen House: 15 minutes Best for: A drink before dinner, a reliably good meal without booking

A solid second string to The Sun Inn in the same town and considerably easier to walk into without a reservation. Useful to know about when The Sun Inn is full, or when you want something lower-key.

A note on Sunday lunch

Sunday lunch in the south Lakes takes the meal seriously. The Punch Bowl, The Sun Inn, The Hare and Hounds and The Plough all do exceptional versions. Book well ahead for The Punch Bowl, The Sun Inn and The Hare and Hounds.

Getting around

All of the pubs above are within 25 minutes of The Hen House by car. The roads are narrow and rural — take them slowly, especially at night. Designated driver rotation, a taxi from Kendal, or a single-pub evening on foot from the cottage are the sensible approaches to an evening out.

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