MY PUB: Heft, Newton in Cartmel, Cumbria

The pub is nestled at the foot of Whin Brow on the fringes of the Lake District in the village of Newton in Cartmel.

It used to be called the Crown Inn, a former coaching inn that has welcomed travellers since the 17th century.

Here, co-owner Nicola tells The Morning Advertiser all about this amazing site.

The pub

We chose a fairly unusual name for our pub, renaming it Heft. It was important for us to select a name that we could genuinely relate to, something that connected our inn to the beautiful and varied landscape of Cartmel Fell surrounding it.

Let me share the story behind the name. In the lakes and dales, there’s a unique phenomenon that you won’t find elsewhere in England, which involves ‘hefted’ sheep.

This term refers to sheep that, through countless generations, have learned to thrive in their own specific area of the fell without needing any boundaries. They endure all weathers and are only brought down for pasture during gathering times, after which they return instinctively to their own grazing grounds on the fell.

This homing instinct has developed over centuries and is irreplaceable once lost. What’s fascinating is that it’s not just the sheep that are ‘hefted’; the hill farmers who tend these flocks are equally connected to the land they cultivate, a place that undeniably runs in their blood.

This northern farming term resonated with us, especially since our own families have deep roots in this landscape for generations. Like our parents and grandparents before us, we feel firmly ‘hefted’ to the Cumbrian land, which made the name feel perfect.

The publican

My journey in hospitality began after university when I returned to the Lakes to work at the Drunken Duck in Barngates. I spent a couple of years there, eventually moving into junior management. In 2011, I transitioned to Hipping Hall in Lancashire, where I was assistant manager before becoming the general manager of the Ryebeck in Bowness later in 2011. I took a break in 2015 to have our first child and returned briefly until 2017 to focus on raising our daughter, who was later joined by our son.

My husband Kevin’s path was a bit different. He studied at Kendal College as part of his apprenticeship with English Lakes Hotels. After that, he started as a chef de partie at the Michelin-starred Sharrow Bay Hotel, where he honed his skills. Following a stint at Gilpin, he joined Simon Rogan at L’Enclume in Cartmel in 2005. This period was hugely influential, and he rose to become Simon’s senior sous chef for over nine years.

In early 2014, he became the head chef at Rogan’s neighbourhood restaurant, Rogan & Co. By early 2015, he was invited to lead and create a new restaurant with rooms, Forest Side in Grasmere, which opened in February 2016. Kevin quickly garnered critical acclaim, earning a Michelin star within eight months and four AA rosettes within a year, plus recognition in the 2019 Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards. He left Forest Side in the autumn of 2019 to spend time with our young family and plan our restaurant’s launch.

Together, we took over what was previously the Crown Inn in July 2020 during the height of the pandemic. Co-ordinating trades, fitters, architects and builders to completely renew and rebuild the kitchen and refurbish the entire building was quite the challenge.

Despite the pandemic restrictions, we kept our renovation programme on track, leading to an ultra-modern kitchen, new service areas, and a complete refurbishment of the bar and restaurant. We opened our doors in July 2021.

Since then, Heft has been recognised as one of the Top 50 Gastropubs in the UK for 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Heft has also been listed among the UK’s top 100 places to dine in the National Restaurant Awards for 2024 and 2025.

The trade

We’re open from Wednesday to Sunday, offering lunch and dinner in our restaurant from Thursday to Saturday, plus our Sunday Lunch Service every Sunday. On Wednesdays, we collaborate with local street food businesses or put our unique spin on street food to provide residents with something a little different.

As a rural village pub in the Lakes, Heft, alongside the village hall, serves as a social focal point for the community. We enjoy a diverse customer base that blends locals with visitors, creating a vibrant and lively bar atmosphere.

The team

I’m part of a talented team of 15, with eight front-of-house staff, including myself, and seven in the kitchen led by chef-owner Kevin.

Our bar has seating for about 40 guests for bar snacks, while our 28-cover restaurant showcases Kevin’s unique take on modern British cuisine. We also have a lovely beer garden at the back of the inn, accommodating up to 40 guests.

The drink

Heft now features a bar where we serve quality beers and carefully selected wines, alongside a restaurant that showcases Kevin’s unique take on modern British food, using a wealth of locally sourced ingredients in his dishes.

While the restaurant isn’t dog-friendly, we’ve consciously decided to welcome dogs in the bar area, where their owners can enjoy drinks and a selection of snacks and light bites. We also accommodate children of all ages in our bar.

When it comes to drinks, our selections reflect the same care and thoughtfulness as our food menu. We’ve partnered with a small local wine merchant specialising in sourcing from small-scale vineyards to ensure our guests enjoy a great drink experience to complement their meal.

We strive to throw away as little as possible; our ethos is that waste isn’t waste until it’s in the bin! With this in mind, we created our Rhubarb & Custard cocktail, which has been a highlight of the menu since its inception. We poach rhubarb to perfection for our ‘Very French Toast’ dessert, producing a surplus of striking pink, deliciously tart syrup, which inspired – and became the central flavour of – our retro dessert cocktail.

We enjoy using methods like dehydrating, pickling, fermenting and infusing to push the versatility of our ingredients and extend their shelf life. Preservation is not only cost-effective but also environmentally friendly, allowing us to be both thrifty and creative. One example of our commitment came during lockdown when we saved some of Coniston Brewery’s iconic Bluebird Bitter from going down the drain. We fermented it, and now it features as the brine for one of our favourite bar snacks: pickled eggs.

We believe homemade infusions produce a fresher, more natural taste than mass-produced flavoured spirits, syrups, and liqueurs. Creating them is easy, inexpensive, satisfying, and the potential flavour combinations are practically unlimited.

The infusion process can vary with the ingredients but it’s often as simple as preparing the fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs, nuts, leaves, seeds or flowers, adding them to a base spirit and then waiting a few days. While we may not be used to waiting days for anything, let alone a drink, we assure you, you won’t regret it.

The food

Every dish we serve, from bar snacks to fine dining, reflects our beautiful surroundings.

Kevin skilfully combines interesting and unusual flavours from the region, drawing on his rich local heritage and the excellent ingredients available throughout the north.

Our menus feature locally reared rare-breed cattle, various sheep breeds, rare-breed pigs, wild game, locally crafted artisan cheeses, and sustainably sourced fish from the North Sea, alongside seasonal vegetables and fruits from across northern England.

We even incorporate a bounty of foraged ingredients like nuts, berries, herbs, and mushrooms, creating a dining experience that’s both exciting and tantalising.

Regardless of the season, we always find plenty of inspiring local ingredients to gather for free.

Summer marks the arrival of green juniper berries and aromatic flora such as flowering currant, mugwort, and barbary blossom, along with pineapple weed, which is a fragrant relative of chamomile and our favourite addition to vodka.

Autumn brings blackberries, sea buckthorn, and crab-apples, which make a punchy old-fashioned, followed by hardy sloes and rosehips that can endure the winter frosts.

In our bar, we offer a full range of snacks and light bites—from homemade pickled eggs and cheese platters with fresh bread to mugs of homemade soup served with freshly made sourdough, Kevin’s take on traditional sausage rolls, rotating seasonal pies, and hearty dishes like venison stew with pickled red cabbage and herb crumb, Old Spot rack of ribs in our house BBQ sauce, or our own smoked mackerel with fermented beetroot. This variety means that everyone can experience Heft’s hospitality, whether indulging in a tasting menu or simply enjoying a cosy mug of soup.

The events

In terms of dining options, we’ve made an effort to provide a range of prices. The restaurant serves a classic three-course lunch from Thursday to Saturday, featuring Kevin’s creative twists that elevate the experience.

Our Sunday lunch, known as Sunday Service, offers a more playful take on the traditional meal and runs from noon until early evening, with the last service at 6pm every Sunday.

For dinner, we present a special tasting menu from Thursday to Saturday, expertly crafted by Kevin to deliver a memorable feast for the senses. We make sure to cater to a wide variety of dietary requirements so everyone can enjoy a meal with us.

On Wednesday evenings, Heft transforms into a hub for regular guest pop-up street food dining nights, where we welcome a variety of guest chefs serving everything from pizzas to pies and burgers.

During the winter months, we host regular artisan craft workshops, inviting artisans such as calligraphers, artists, and florists to showcase their specialities. We’re also exploring the idea of a regular food producers and craft market with hopes of eventually launching our own deli and gift shop.

Heft also regularly hosts collaborative chef events and meet-the-maker sessions and is developing a program focused on food and farming events, showcasing local producers.

We’ve organised a variety of classes, like foraging, floristry, cheese-making, and wine and beer tasting, often in partnership with local providers and artisans, giving our customers a unique opportunity to engage in new experiences. Plus, we hold regular pop-up events throughout the year, allowing guest street food vendors to showcase their offerings.

The future

We have plans to open five guest bedrooms, which we’ve fully refurbished, decorated, and furnished by the end of 2024 into early 2025.

We are currently recruiting new team members to fill roles in housekeeping, reception, and the kitchen to help manage the extra pressure of delivering high-quality service to our future in-house guests, including providing a breakfast service.