Kirkstile Inn

The Kirkstile Inn occupies a building with origins in the sixteenth century at Loweswater, below Melbreak, and was previously known as the Hare and Hounds, serving as the meeting point for the Melbreak Hunt. It was the original home of Cumbrian Legendary Ales, whose Loweswater Gold was first brewed on the premises before the brewery relocated near Hawkshead. The inn now offers ten refurbished bedrooms alongside its bar and dining rooms, with low beams, stone walls and open fires typical of its farmhouse origins. In 2019 it won West Cumbria CAMRA's Pub of the Year, one of several such awards the inn has picked up from the local branch since the early 2000s. Run as a single free house under the Kirkstile name, it remains a focal point for the small village of Loweswater.