Explore the North.
To Do
Go and see SIX: THE MUSICAL (LIVE) screened at The Dukes in Lancaster. (Link for tickets)
To Eat
Deep fried black pudding and potato stack (with added bacon if you wish), poached egg, and chilli jam @ The Quayside, Glasson Dock. Open Thur-Sun. Read about the café in my article here.
On May Bank Holiday, Holker Hall held it’s annual Spring Fair and Festival, and yours truly went along for the third year in a row to check it out.
The weather was beautiful; sunny but not overly hot, with a slight breeze. Perfect for wandering around looking at artisan products, food, and crafts from local businesses. It also made it perfect weather for lots and lots of doggies to be around – my favourite! (Note to readers: I am absolutely dog mad, and will pet dogs wherever I see them. To be honest, I’m absolutely creature/animal mad – I will pet anything vaguely cute and fluffy; will never kill bugs or spiders; am in awe of all wildlife… I’ll even try and gently waft wasps outside, despite the fact they scare me!).
Upon arriving we parked in the disabled parking area (my mum has access needs and is a blue badge holder), and headed up the hill towards the fair. I bought us both a coffee from a stall before we had a noodle around the stalls. There were local artisans and craft stalls, such as Gazelle Crafts (Making Your Garden Wildlife Friendly), The Zero Pantry (Serving daily needs, plastic free), The Wilde Bakery (flapjack makers from Bare), and Northern Baked (Cakes, scones, pastries etc.). There was also representation from various charities associated with nature and animals, such as the RSPB, The Woodland Trust, and the Wildlife Trust.
As well as seeing the stalls and the artisans who had come along, I also went for a walk around the Hall & Gardens itself. I come to Holker Hall regularly, and there’s always something to see whatever time of the year. In Spring, the Gardens are famed for their rhododendrons and azaleas, as well as the wildflower areas specifically left to create havens for bees, insects, and other wildlife. I’ll be doing more posts about what to see at Holker Hall in the future. Holker also have other events running throughout the year – you can check out their ‘What’s On‘ page to see what’s coming up.
^ P.S – this was Winston, a 10 yr old Black Labrador that I just had to feature because he looked so gentlemanly and majestic standing in the wildflower meadow. He was a such a sweet boy and I gave him a big cuddle after he posed so nicely for a photograph.
One of the things I wanted to do when I started The North(ish) Lass was to highlight and promote small and medium companies that produce food and goods specifically made in the North. So, in that spirit, I thought I would start with one of my favourite items produced locally: Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding. I’m already drooling just thinking about it.
Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding started being made over thirty-five years ago in a family run restaurant, as well as being stocked in the village shop, and transformed overtime into the product known today. After customers to the village shop started asking “where can I find it local to where I live?” the family knew they had a very good thing on their hands, but had to figure out how to make the pudding and the sauce, package it, and have customers be able to create the taste they loved at home. Cartmel STP (Sticky Toffee Pudding) were the first company in the UK to try serving the pudding and sauce together in a foil tin, with the sauce already on top and cooling it after baking. This then allowed purchasers to reheat it at home, with the sauce already soaking into the pudding. Delicious.
Initially, the family were ferrying the product around to local delis and independent shops in a car, and then a trailer, then a horsebox, and finally… a van. Of course, with such a high demand, soon the under-the-counter oven in the village shop where this had all started couldn’t keep up with the orders. After several iterations in Cartmel itself, including a new kitchen being built, eventually a new site had to be fine. This was kept local, with a purpose built bakery being opened in 2004 in the village of Flookburgh, about three miles down the road from Cartmel village.
Nowadays, the company don’t just do Sticky Toffee Pudding, but several other desserts and other products as well, which can be found in Booths, Waitrose, and other shops including independent restaurants, delis, and cafes. You can find out more about the company, and their products, on their website.
Features: Outside seating, dog friendly, excellent for breakfast.
Price: ££
Address: Tithebarn Hill, Glasson Dock, Lancaster LA2 0BY
The Quayside at Glasson Dock is a charming little café on the side of the marina and lock at Glasson Dock. The café stands next to a little village shop and the famous Port of Lancaster Smokehouse Shop and has indoor and outdoor spaces to sit and eat. It is very popular on the weekend, especially with motorbike riders, cyclists, and other out-and-abouters. Once you get a load of the food you will understand why. Not only are the portion sizes for the breakfasts extremely generous, the food is also delicious. It’s all cooked from scratch (so at busier times it might take a little bit longer to get to you), but it’s well worth the wait.
My favourite is a Potato Cake Stack which is a potato pancake, black pudding (your choice whether you have this deep-fried or not, just to make it extra unhealthy!), poached egg, extra bacon if you want it, and another potato pancake on the bottom. This then comes with a little bit of sweet chilli jam, and hollandaise sauce (I choose to have it without the hollandaise as I’ve never really been a fan). It is delicious. I’ve had it so often in there that now when I sit down the lady knows exactly what I want and how I like (right down to the crispy bacon (can’t be doing with flubby bacon – yuck!)). Mum sometimes has a Small Breakfast when we come down here, but often just has a very tasty (and very generous) bacon roll.
I especially like going along in the summer months when I can sit at one of the tables outside and enjoy the sunshine whilst looking out over the marina. The café is dog friendly, both inside and out, so your pooches can come along for some breakfast or lunch with you. The café also does Fish & Chips on a Friday night which I am going to try sometime soon!
After you’ve finished breakfast, you can go for a wander down the quayside and have a look in the smokehouse shop, which as the name suggests has products from the actual smoke house found just down the road; everything from smoked haddock, to chicken, to cheese. There are also lots of other delicious things to be found in there like the famous Morecambe Bay Potted Shrimp in brown butter. I’m particularly partial to their conserves and jams, as well as their sweets and snack selection.