Next month will see cafes and restaurants across the county discover if they will be declared the best in their field at an annual awards ceremony.

The Cumbria Food Awards will take place on Thursday, March 3 at Kendal College and will be hosted by Cumbrian and Hairy Biker Dave Myers.

The nominations for each award have already been named, with categories raging from restaurant and chef of the year to

Representing the northern half of the county in the ‘Newcomer of the Year award’ category is Bassenthwaite Lake Station, to the east of Cockermouth.

The café is proud of their roots, with a team of west Cumbrians providing customers with fantastic service and food and drink arriving from local suppliers.

Discussing the nomination, owner Diana Parums said: “We’re thrilled and delighted. We think it reflects the hard work of all our team. It’s a lovely reward for everyone’s work last year.

“We are especially proud of becoming friends with the local client base who frequently visit. The support we get from people from the area is tremendous and we look forward to welcoming them throughout the year.”

Continuing by speaking about how the pandemic affect the new operation, Diana continued: “We were lucky as we weren’t open during the full lockdown, but we’ve had to cope with an awful lot of visitors this year which is a good and a bad thing for a new café.

“It may have provided a lot of strain but it helped us improve things rapidly to the point where the place is now slick and very well run. We’re now able to cater to an awful lot more customers. It has also helped the team to pull together quickly.”

2022 looks to be a busy year for the café. Diana said: “We have the train as the main attraction, and the café has bookings right towards Christmas and we have bookings for next Christmas! It’s going to be another busy season for us. I think a lot of people have re-discovered just how beautiful the Lake District and Cumbria are.

“We have just purchased a meadow adjacent to the station that we want to transform very carefully into a flower meadow for the local wildlife. We feel this will further enhance the habitat and the viewing possibilities, as well as increasing that sense of wellbeing that we focus on.”