Travellers Rest, Ambleside

The Travellers Rest, as the name implies, is an old roadside inn, the best part of a mile out of the village at the foot of Dunmail Raise. The entrance is into a sort of lobby, with a small bar to the rear and an open fire to the left. To the right is a dining room, and to the left, up some steps beside the fire, is another room with traditional pub tables, settles and bare floorboards, with rough plastering on the walls. There's a pool table in here, and a wide screen TV over the fire place showing sports. The tiny bar has five hand pumps, just three of them available when I was here, serving Jennings beers. I've noticed a lot of cars in the car park at lunchtimes when passing, but when I called in (admittedly a winter midweek evening) I was the only customer, so it's difficult to judge what the atmosphere is like when busy. I've been coming here off and on for many years - it used to be a Vaux pub in the 1970s, I remember - and I've always had a soft spot for the place, though it's hard to define just what it is keeps me coming back!