The post-run coffee is not a reward. It’s part of the run — the final split, the one you actually look forward to, the bit that makes every other split negotiable. Westmorland is unusually good at this split, because the county has quietly become one of the most over-roasted places in Britain. Kendal alone has four roasteries for a town of under thirty thousand people, which is either a thriving artisan economy or a cry for help.
Historic Westmorland takes in Kendal, the Kent valley, Windermere, Ambleside and Grasmere, then thins out north towards Appleby, where the coffee gets scarcer and the hills do not. This guide sticks to the southern half, where a run can end in a chair.
Opening hours in the Lakes bend with the season and the school holidays. Several of these close mid-afternoon, and the roasteries keep trade hours rather than café hours, so check before you build a long run around one.
Kendal
Crumb., Blackhall Road
In the middle of town, and small enough that six sweaty runners constitute a takeover. The coffee is from Dark Woods, the award-winning roaster over the border in Yorkshire, and the sourdough is what most of the queue is actually here for. Grab-and-go, which suits the runner who has parked badly and knows it.
Farrer’s, Stricklandgate
Farrer’s has been roasting in Kendal since 1819, which makes it a plausible claimant to oldest coffee roaster in the country. The shop is a Grade II listed eighteenth-century building with the original 1853 grinder still standing in the middle of it. You will feel underdressed. You will be underdressed. Have the coffee anyway.
Podda & Wren, Elephant Yard
A working roastery with an espresso bar bolted on. A couple of different blends are usually on, with home-made cake, and the staff will talk about extraction for as long as you let them. Ask about the beans and you have made a friend. Ask for a large caramel latte and you have made a point.
Red Bank Coffee Roasters, Boundary Bank Lane
About a mile out of the centre on an industrial estate, which does not sound promising until you walk in. It is a roastery you can stand inside, with named single-origin lots on the counter — one is called Mountain Rescue, which feels pointed after Scout Scar — and you can taste before you buy. There is a low-caf option for anyone whose heart rate is already doing enough.
Staveley
Duffins, Main Street
Staveley is four miles up the Kent valley from Kendal and sits on the Dales Way. Duffins roasts its own beans on the main street, with the roaster on show. The signature blend is called Juicy Gossip. The flat white is the order. Buy a bag of beans, then remember you have to run home with it.
Windermere
Homeground Coffee + Kitchen, Main Road
The brunch place in Windermere. Homeground has won Cumbria Life’s Best Café twice, does not take bookings, and regularly gets through two hundred covers at brunch, so the queue out of the door is normal. Get there early. Then earlier than that.
Ambleside
Stiles Coffee Bar, Compston Road
Family-run and a couple of minutes from Rothay Park, which makes it the parkrun café whether or not it wanted the job. The beans are from Carvetii, the small-batch roaster up near Keswick. In a town where plenty of cafés serve whatever came in the van, the sourcing here is the point.
Grasmere
Lucia’s Coffee + Bakehouse, College Street
Grasmere is mostly gingerbread and coach parties, so Lucia’s is doing something quietly heroic. Cortados on the menu, and a barista who pours named latte art on request — swans on a cappuccino, a rabbit on a cortado. Order the rabbit. You have just run round Rydal Water. You have earned a small drawing of a rabbit.
Pair it with the run
Rothay Park parkrun, Ambleside. Three laps of Rothay Park and Miller Field, mostly flat, a mix of grass and tarmac, with the fells standing round the edge looking down on you. Saturday, 9am. Puddles after rain, which in Ambleside means most Saturdays. First time? Read the unwritten rules before you turn up.
The River Kent and Kendal Castle loop. A traffic-free path runs along the Kent through the middle of Kendal, and the classic town loop adds one short climb to the castle ruins for a view over the grey roofs to the fells. About two miles.
The Windermere Marathon. Every June, a lap of the lake from Waterhead round to Brockhole, with roughly six hundred metres of climbing hidden in it. Beautiful. Not flat.
What to wear when it will rain at some point
Lakeland running has one fixed rule: it will rain at some point, and you will not be told when. The Agony tee is 140gsm technical polyester that wicks properly, so you can stand in the Homeground queue without visibly steaming. The Suffer shorts are lined and have a pocket that holds an actual phone. A Brow-Mop cap keeps the drizzle out of your eyes round Rydal. Everything else lives in the kit.
The rules
- Cake past 10K: mandatory. Past 20K with Loughrigg in it: two cakes, and the second one is nobody’s business.
- The coffee is ordered before the run is uploaded. Strava can wait.
- Do not sit on the good chairs in wet kit. Bench, step, outside table. You know this.
- Whoever drove picks the café. Whoever said “it’s only a small hill” pays.
- Bring a friend, and there is a refer-a-friend fiver in it for both of you. Spend it on the cake. Obviously.
Common questions
Where is the best coffee in Kendal?
For the coffee itself, Red Bank or Podda & Wren, both of which roast on site. For a sit-down in the centre with something to eat, Crumb.
Is there a parkrun in Kendal?
Not in Kendal itself. The nearest in Westmorland is Rothay Park parkrun in Ambleside, three flat laps of the park on a Saturday morning, with Stiles Coffee Bar a couple of minutes away afterwards.
Which Windermere café is best after a run?
Homeground Coffee + Kitchen on Main Road. It does not take bookings and the brunch queue is real, so go early or wait for the lunch rush to pass.
Do the Lake District coffee shops close early?
Many do. Several cafés in this guide shut mid-afternoon and the Kendal roasteries keep working hours, so check the day’s times before planning a long run that finishes at one.
Is Ambleside in Westmorland?
Historically, yes. Ambleside, Grasmere, Windermere, Kendal and Staveley all sit in the historic county of Westmorland, which is why they are here and Keswick is in the Cumberland guide.
Related reading
If the Lakeland forecast is the thing putting you off, running in British weather covers what to do about it. If you are eyeing the marathon, first marathon: what nobody tells you is the honest briefing. For Keswick and the north, there is the Cumberland guide.
Tag us at @ordinarymileclub with your Westmorland coffee stop — bonus points for a rabbit on a cortado. If you want the lot, it is all in The Full Kit.
THE ORDINARY TIMES, café desk.