Levens Kitchen at Levens Hall | Graham’s Guide

Graham’s Guidelines	* Rating (1 to 5)
Coffee	4*
Food	5*
Conversation	5*
People Watching	5*

On a recent day out to Sizergh Caste we decided to start the day with refreshments. The National Trust property doesn’t open its cafe or gardens until 10:00am and we needed to be back home for mid-afternoon. Levens Kitchen, however, opens at 9:30am, is only a short distance from Sizergh Castle and is, in many ways, superior to the pleasant National Trust cafe.

The Hall itself has a fascinating history, and has long been famous for its topiary garden. The Hall and gardens are well worth a visit. In recent years Levens Hall has added further distinction through Levens Kitchen. There has long been a cafe at Levens Hall, inside part of the old building, it was dark and not particularly welcoming. In 2019 a new purpose built facility was opened, since then the kitchens have gone from strength to strength, including the addition of the Levens Bakery in 2023. The opening of the bakery followed the appearance of Robert Stacey, the head chef, on Bake-off: The Professionals.

Levens Hall sits alongside the A6 north of Lancaster and Milnthorpe, and a short hop off the A590. There is free parking at Levens Hall which is accessed via the driveway, lined by crocus in the spring.

We often use Levens Hall as the starting point to one of our favourite walks through Levens Deer Park alongside the River Kent, which I’ll add a guide for at some point, but is already available as a route in Graham’s Walks.

The breakfast and lunchtime menus at Levens Kitchen are glorious. I’m repeatedly drawn to the salads whenever we come in the middle of the day, the roasted beetroot a particular favourite, the soup with a cheese scone is regularly a delight, and in a morning the bruleed greek yoghurt hits the mark. On this occasion, though, we were looking for a little something before heading out on our planned visit and settled on a simple croissant and coffee. It’s often the simpler things that define quality and the croissant from the bakery, next door, was delicious. The locally roasted coffee is normally very good and this time was no exception.

On this occasion we loved watching Freddie Wimsett as he progressed the wonderful new mural on the large gable wall opposite the serving counter. Can there be any better people watching than that? It was also intriguing to watch people’s different reactions to the surprise. I find it fascinating that some people tend to delight at something new, where others opt for grumpiness. Most people’s response was delight, but there were a few whom the creation of a large mural of plants, flowers, birds and animals met with immediate disapproval which I found sad.

Wonderfully refreshed we headed off for the rest of our day at Sizergh Castle which turned out to be a revelation.

Levens Kitchen
Levens Hall
Kendal
Cumbria
LA8 0PD

Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/d9Gwn1N5tgV7khtJ6

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