Dining on top of one of England's highest peaks
8:19am Thursday 15th May 2008
A group of gourmet walkers enjoyed a luxury three course lunch on top of one of England's highest mountains as the Cumberland Ale Keswick Mountain Festival got underway on Wednesday 14th May.
Local celebrity chef Peter Sidwell and his staff served lunch on top of Skiddaw in the Lake District in tents that are used at Everest base camp.
Thirty diners tucked into the meal, which included a confit of seared roast lamb and seared best end of lamb and a Grasmere Gingerbread and white chocolate cheesecake.
Peter and his team will be serving the lunches on the 3,000 foot peak again today (Thursday 15th of May).
Peter Sidwell who owns the Good Taste café and deli in Keswick says: "It's been an interesting experience for all of us. I've cooked meals al fresco before but cooking on top of a 3,000 foot mountain was certainly a new challenge. It was perfect weather for a high altitude meal and we had a great time."
Peter Sidwell has worked with the Cumberland Ale Keswick Mountain Festival to organise the mountain top restaurant. A local walking guide, Tim Mosedale, escorted the diners to the top of Skiddaw and Gordie Oliver from Air Ventures took the tents and catering equipment up the peak.
Cheryl Frost from the Cumberland Ale Keswick Mountain Festival says: "It really has been a fantastic way to kick off the Festival. Peter and his staff did a great job putting together such a high quality meal on top of the mountain and the support team have also worked incredibly hard to make this such a success."
A film of the meal will be available at www.artisan-food.com by Saturday.
The Cumberland Ale Keswick Mountain Festival runs until the 18th of May. As well as England's highest restaurant, there are more than 100 activities taking place in and around Keswick including walks, canoeing, climbing and navigation courses.
The Festival also includes talks by famous mountaineers like Doug Scott (Thursday), Sir Chris Bonington (Friday) and Alan Hinkes (Saturday) and celebrities like Julia Bradbury who presents the Wainwright Walks series on the BBC (Friday).
On Saturday there will also be the TriHard Keswick Triathlon and a National Trailquest championship mountain bike orienteering event.
Tickets for all the talks can be bought from the Theatre by the Lake by phoning 017687-74411.
A full programme of activities can be found at www.keswickmountainfestival.co.uk