Escape to: Farlam Hall, Cumbria

With its unique Indian-influenced Michelin Star restaurant

Imagine a quaint English country house surrounded by impossibly pretty gardens that also houses a British-Indian Michelin-star, 3 AA Rosette restaurant.

It exists! It’s called Farlam Hall, and I went there.

I first ate at Great British Menu star Hrishkesh Desai’s eponymous Hrishi restaurant at Gilpin Hall, what feels like a lifetime ago, on a birthday trip to the lakes. I was smitten then, and fortunate enough to return several years later when I’d established myself as a food writer. Hrishikesh’s food is unique and unforgettable. It combines two of my favourite things: Indian spice and British fine dining. I am a fan.

So when Hrishi announced he would be moving on to pastures new, and another (much lauded) chef was to take the helm of his former restaurant space at Gilpin, I was shook. What would Hrishi do next?

What he did next was make an ambitious move to Farlam Hall, a few miles outside of Carlisle, close to the border of Scotland, and basically in the middle of flipping nowhere. Another one for the ‘one day’ list, I thought.

Lucky me then, that one uneventful Monday, an invite dropped into my inbox to stay over at Farlam and eat Hrishi’s food. The date fell mid-tour for my band. I almost had to say no, but we made it work, we had to.

I’m so pleased I get to tell you how ridiculously blissful the place is.

When I tell you I was in need of a decent night’s kip, I mean it. I had been sleeping on a pointy rock on which I had expertly positioned my tent at Kendal Calling for several days before playing a punk festival in Blackpool. So being shown into my room with its bed big enough for my whole band to sleep in, yet only me to accommodate (ha!) almost made me weep.

The whole place is a lip trembler for a sleep-deprived indie musician badly in need of TLC. We floated around gardener Penny’s edible fruit and veg patch picking redcurrants and blackcurrants to use in a cocktail class - where our drinks were paired with beetroot and parsnip crisps from veg grown right there.

We sipped Champagne on the terrace in the August sun before strolling around the rest of the gardens with Hrishi as he told us all about their 80,000 bees and the teaspoon of honey each will make in its lifetime.

We marvelled at the 150-year-old cedar tree. We drove to the nearby Tarn for a walk around the water, pointing out cute dogs along the way. We toured the beautiful rooms and stable suites, and we ate a homely, simple evening meal at Enkel, Hrishi’s bistro-style restaurant. Enkel means ‘simple’ in old Norse.

The whole place couldn’t be more English. Not my (or, I imagine, your) reality of England, but the one of novels and films, the one American tourists think is our daily lives until they land at Manchester Airport to have their dreams crushed.

Farlam Hall is almost absurdly charming.

But it’s Cedar Tree restaurant, where Pune, India-born Hrishikesh lets his imagination run wild in tasting menu form, that sets it apart from most other expensive hotels in the English countryside. This is the menu Hrishi has been working his way up to for his whole career. I was almost nervous to try it, I had such high hopes.

From the off, dishes fizz with the chef’s enthusiasm. An ‘olive’ snack is a delicate white chocolate shell filled with savoury green olive, celery and cardamom-flavoured liquid. A street-food-inspired cone of flattened garbanzo bean (aka chickpea) chaat gives snacky, spicy crunch.

Sustainability is in the DNA of the place. Napkin rings are made from a fallen tree. Veg grown in the garden leads the way - starters are always vegetarian and as he brings dishes to the table, Hrishi often says, “We had a lot of this, so we made…”. He’s also done away with foie gras completely. There are more interesting things to cook.

Marigolds are an important, symbolic flower in India, so they appear in various forms across the menu, like in a disarmingly simple courgette tempura with marigold chutney served alongside a green herb ‘gazpacho’. They’re making their way into the hotel’s toiletries and scented candles too.

Beef tartare comes in a striking green Maharastran chilli thecha croustade shell, blobbed with parsley mayo and topped with ‘seaweed’ style shreds of cavolo nero. Its snack companion is a sort of hash brown topped with crushed edamame, green chilli chutney and finely grated Montgomery cheddar.

The bread course is an on-trend milk loaf, soft as kitten paws, and sliced French poolish bread served with something that looks uncannily like a whole red chilli but turns out to be chilli and coriander butter drizzled with smoked chilli oil. As good as it sounds. TikTok loved this one.

A glossy beefsteak tomato is (almost miraculously) created out of tomato jelly and filled with refreshing tomato and lemon granita. You’ve got to love a bit of surrealism.

These are all bridesmaids though, for a devastatingly handsome longhorn beef Wellington. Indianised in the most restrained sense, the hyper-local beef is marinated in tandoor spices and then roasted over charcoal, rolled in the classic mushroom duxelles, pancakes and pastry. It’s served with a tandoori spiced jus.

The portion is refreshingly huge for this kind of restaurant, two thick slices of welly. We are extremely well-fed here.

Our palates are cleansed by a green apple, tarragon and mint granita topped with micro-rocket. Everyone gets carried away trying to describe it: ‘Like lime green Mr Freeze ice pops’, 'It’s giving brat summer’, ‘If Shrek was a dessert’.

And lastly, the raspberries we saw growing in the garden earlier star in a multifaceted raspberry and cream dessert with galangal and white chocolate mousse, a raspberry ‘smoothie’ (made with Farlam' Hall’s own raspberry gin), and tiny cubes of sweet pistachio cake.

As always, I have to get the petit fours (inspired by Hrishi’s favourite childhood treats) boxed up to take home. Well, to take by train to my next gig which is in Newcastle. It’s not often your band’s ‘rider’ includes chocs from a Michelin-star restaurant.

A British-Indian tasting menu could come off as gimmicky but Hrishikesh, with his decades of experience cooking at Michelin-star restaurants in Europe strikes a cool, clever balance.

Spices are used expertly to enhance classic British dishes and local produce. Never domineering, but not shy either. There is chill-heat. There are unmistakeable aromatics. There is that warm colour palette.

Hrishi is visibly, audibly proud of his roots but you can tell he loves British food too.

It all just works so well.

A stay at Farlam Hall starts at £266 per night for a classic double room.

The tasting menu at Cedar Tree Restaurant costs £130 per person.

Look out for extra special short breaks throughout the year at times like Diwali and Christmas. Or just find an excuse and go.