The White Mare — Restaurant in England

First of all I want to make sure that the staff know that they are AMAZING and really did everything to make the stay as great as they possibly could. The main issue we had was with the evening meal. |We were very excited for our trip away, getting out of the city for a night, and the main reason we chose to stay here was because we saw on the menu that they had vegan options, and it’s hard to find rural pubs with rooms that have this option, usually we have to drive somewhere for dinner, and reading the reviews we were really excited for some lovely home cooked pub food before a comfy nights sleep.|We arrived to a really warm welcome and lovely open fire, after a rainy walk close by and were taken up to our wonderfully spacious yet cosy room, had a lovely hot bath and even got some beers from the bar. |We went down to the bar and had a drink before dinner by the fire which was really lovely. We were shown to our table in a nice cosy corner and sat down. We ordered 2 Falafel Starters and 2 Banana Blossom Mains and asked if we could have some bread and oils as well.|The basket of bread arrived which was just 6 small shop-bought bread rolls, balsamic vinegar (on its own) and vegan margarine, when we asked if there was any olive oil for dipping we were told there wasn’t any in the kitchen, which made us a little concerned about how our salad for the starter was going to be dressed, however the starters arrived and looked really appetising. But, the falafel was cold, shop bought and dry, the salad wasn’t dressed, and there was a smear of tahini was at the bottom which is also very dry. The raw chickpeas and bits of beetroot were the only moisture on the plate. I’ve never been served raw chickpeas, they don’t have much flavour, maybe roasting/toasting the chickpeas in some spices would have helped? Olive oil would have been a massive bonus and frying the Falafels or baking them just to help get rid of some of the dryness would have helped a lot too, this mixed with the dry bread served with just vinegar was a disappointing start to the meal. However the mains were much better, the banana blossom was tasty and lovely chips served with vegan mayonnaise, just would have liked the mushy peas to have a bit more flavour, again they tasted shop bought, but it was a lovely sized portion for the price. |The atmosphere was absolutely lovely and the staff were excellent and we made sure to tip them as, again, none of the above should reflect poorly on them. We didn’t mention anything at the time as we didn’t really speak about the starter until we got to our room and by that point we were full of chips and ready for a cosy nights sleep. |The next morning we headed down for breakfast and they gave us some vegan yogurts that felt like they’d got in specially for us which was absolutely lovely. And the vegan cooked breakfast was tasty, could have maybe done with a veggie sausage or something but other than that it was really...

First of all I want to make sure that the staff know that they are AMAZING and really did everything to make the stay as great as they possibly could. The main issue we had was with the evening meal. |We were very excited for our trip away, getting out of the city for a night, and the main reason we chose to stay here was because we saw on the menu that they had vegan options, and it’s hard to find rural pubs with rooms that have this option, usually we have to drive somewhere for dinner, and reading the reviews we were really excited for some lovely home cooked pub food before a comfy nights sleep.|We arrived to a really warm welcome and lovely open fire, after a rainy walk close by and were taken up to our wonderfully spacious yet cosy room, had a lovely hot bath and even got some beers from the bar. |We went down to the bar and had a drink before dinner by the fire which was really lovely. We were shown to our table in a nice cosy corner and sat down. We ordered 2 Falafel Starters and 2 Banana Blossom Mains and asked if we could have some bread and oils as well.|The basket of bread arrived which was just 6 small shop-bought bread rolls, balsamic vinegar (on its own) and vegan margarine, when we asked if there was any olive oil for dipping we were told there wasn’t any in the kitchen, which made us a little concerned about how our salad for the starter was going to be dressed, however the starters arrived and looked really appetising. But, the falafel was cold, shop bought and dry, the salad wasn’t dressed, and there was a smear of tahini was at the bottom which is also very dry. The raw chickpeas and bits of beetroot were the only moisture on the plate. I’ve never been served raw chickpeas, they don’t have much flavour, maybe roasting/toasting the chickpeas in some spices would have helped? Olive oil would have been a massive bonus and frying the Falafels or baking them just to help get rid of some of the dryness would have helped a lot too, this mixed with the dry bread served with just vinegar was a disappointing start to the meal. However the mains were much better, the banana blossom was tasty and lovely chips served with vegan mayonnaise, just would have liked the mushy peas to have a bit more flavour, again they tasted shop bought, but it was a lovely sized portion for the price. |The atmosphere was absolutely lovely and the staff were excellent and we made sure to tip them as, again, none of the above should reflect poorly on them. We didn’t mention anything at the time as we didn’t really speak about the starter until we got to our room and by that point we were full of chips and ready for a cosy nights sleep. |The next morning we headed down for breakfast and they gave us some vegan yogurts that felt like they’d got in specially for us which was absolutely lovely. And the vegan cooked breakfast was tasty, could have maybe done with a veggie sausage or something but other than that it was really...

Well we came across this pub/hotel whilst looking for a place to stay in the Lake District for a week. We wanted somewhere quiet for a base so as we could tour around in the daytime to different places on our motorcycle. This village Beckermet has no shops and only 2 pubs so lovely peaceful and quiet just what we wanted. The white mare is smack bang in the middle of the village and has a little brook running through it it’s just lovely. When we arrived we went to check in and were met by Helen who Is a lovely bubbly chatty person who puts you at ease as soon as you meet her and nothing seems to much trouble if you ask for anything. The staff here are all nice chatty and friendly and we soon made friends with them, our room was a good size very clean and tidy with everything you needed including de caf coffee normal coffee tea etc. The breakfasts here are continental with a very good choice of pastries,cereals, meats, and cheeses from Monday to Friday but on the weekend there is also a choice of a full English breakfast which I’d nice. The food here is excellent with a decent choice on the menu and very good portion’s to. The weather was absolutely brilliant as well and we even sat on the beach in St Bees and Havarigg and it only rained for 10 minutes when we were on a day out in Grasmere so we had a great weeks stay. This is a great place to stay if like us you want to explore cumbria and want to keep away from the touristic places like Windermere, where when looking for accommodation I think some of them either only want the supper rich staying at there pubs/ hotels or they have delusion’s of grandeur as some of the prices they want for a weeks stay are mind boggling. We have stayed in some fabulous hotels all round Europe but never seen prices like some being charged in parts of the Lake District it has to be putting lots of people off staying in what is a beautiful part of our country. The white Mare is reasonably priced has good food accommodation and beer, we would recommend it to anyone who wants to visit the Lake District for a relaxing quiet and peaceful break or just passing through. Will we stay here again you bet we will when up here again. Thanks to all the staff for making our stay a...