The highest inn in Cumbria is on the market with a guide price of £1.2 million.
The Kirkstone Pass Inn – which at 1,500ft is also the third highest inn in England – dates back to 1496AD.
The detached roadside inn has been run as a lifestyle business by the Jennings family for 16 years who have decided it is now time for retirement.
The property is being marketed by leisure property specialists Fleurets.
John Jennings, owner, said: “The time has come for us to wrench ourselves away, to move on into retirement, but not before setting down, in stone, our reflections on some of the amazing events and experiences adding, as idyllic owners, to the iconic Inn’s historic catalogue of charm and mystique, recording for posterity our desirable input to a unique British legend.
“We discovered the magical, enchantment of the Kirkstone Pass Inn by chance while on a visit to the Lakes in the autumn of 2004.
“Driving up ‘The Struggle’, there it was, a proverbial castle in the clouds, instantly filled, in our imaginative minds, with its own historical myths and stories to which we were about, unknowingly to add our own adventures.”
John said he and his family have a lifetime of stories to tell from their time as owners.
He added: “Living and working somewhere famous and different like the Kirkstone Pass Inn, you just have to get used to requests that are off the wall, it’s part of the joy of being the lucky owner.
“One such enquiry happened the day we received a telephone call about the equally famed actor and raconteur Richard Wilson.”
A TV producer was filming in the Lake District for a series called Britain’s Best Drives.
Using the 1950 shell guide and a car from that era, he asked if John would be would be kind enough to meet his film crew with Richard at Ambleside.
““If”, he said with levity, Richard ‘bottles out’ halfway up the struggle would you mind taking over the drive?
Following a second ‘actor’s pause’ for effect, I volunteered, though mindful of the struggle’s notorious reputation, I secretly hoped that Richard was not an ego nut.”
But all worked out in the end with Richard making it up the struggle.
“At the inn we joined a lively group in the bar where we were entertained by Fiona, a local singer.
“As it happened, I had been let into a secret. It was actually Richard’s birthday and we had baked a cake.
“The show ended with a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday to Richard. Each time the programme was aired thereafter, as is the case with other broadcasts, the phone rings off the hook.”
The iconic inn offers a bar and 74-cover restaurant, games room, 50-60 cover beer garden, separate three-bedroom owner’s accommodation and more.
Sitting on approximately seven acres of land, Kirkstone Pass Inn also boasts views as far as Brotherswater to the north and Morecambe Bay across Windermere in the
south.
