Lake District Inn and restaurant now included in annual foodie bible

Heft Inn at High Newton now features in The Good Food Guide among its esteemed listings from across the UK.

Ran by the Cumbrian-born Tickle family, the 17th century inn with five guest rooms already has one Michelin star for high-quality cooking of its modern British cuisine. Using locally reared and farmed produce, the restaurant serves seasonal small plates and snacks alongside quality beers and carefully selected wines.

Heft now features alongside 22 other fellow Cumbrian restaurants, pubs and cafes including the likes of L’Enclume at Cartmel, Forestside at Grasmere and The Old Stamp House, Ambleside.

Nicola Tickle, co-owner of Heft, said: "We are really proud that we have been listed alongside some top-notch restaurants in The Good Food Guide 2023. As a team we work hard day in and day out to deliver the best possible seasonal dining experience to our guests."

Kevin & Nicola Tickle. Credit: Jenny Jones Photography (Image: Jenny Jones Photography)

The team recently headed to the House of Lords in London to join other English regional finalists at the 2023 Countryside Alliance Awards to collect their winner's certificate as Best Pub in the North of England.

Nicola added: "We'll continue to build from here and keep pushing ourselves to be the best we can possibly be. We’re all passionate about the food we create and the service we provide to our customers – for us it’s all about wanting to put Heft and High Newton firmly on the Lake District’s food map."

For over 70 years, The Good Food Guide has a trusted source of information on where to eat across the UK. It is compiled by combining reader feedback with anonymous inspections by a long-standing team of inspectors who review as they go.

Its critics eat as any other customer, pay their own bills and leave to reflect on their experience setting pen to paper. Ratings given range from 'good', 'very good', 'exceptional' or in very few cases ‘world class’.

Heft’s Good Food Guide 'Very Good' listing reads: "There’s no doubt, though that the restaurant is the true destination here – an opening shot of Gotty’s Squeaky Cheese – sets the tone for much of what is to come – proudly Cumbrian ingredients supplied by producers the Tickles know personally, and transformed into what readers have called an ‘intensity of flavour’ that transcends the seasonal and local tags."