The White Hart Inn has three real ales on at any given time and no regular among them. All three rotate, so the beer you liked last visit may not be there this one, which is either the point or the risk depending on how attached you get. It is a 17th-century Lakeland inn with exposed beams, sloped ceilings, and log fires that crackle, and Furness CAMRA has named it Pub of the Season.
It is also the only pub in Bouth, and there is a reason for that.
When the road that became the A590 was built in the early 19th century, it bypassed the village and took the coaching trade with it. Bouth had three pubs. Two of them closed. The White Hart stayed open, and having outlasted its competition by losing its passing custom, it is now regarded as one of the finest real ale pubs in southern Lakeland. The walls are hung with historical artefacts and old pictures of the area, so the story is more or less on display while you drink.
The kitchen does home cooking with Cumbrian ingredients throughout — steak and ale pie, traditional Cumbrian breakfasts, food served in the bar, in the dining area, or out on the terrace. Children and dogs are welcome, there's WiFi, and there are B&B rooms upstairs if you decide one pint has become a longer commitment.
Beyond the pub, Bouth is a small wooded village in the southern Lake District, sitting quietly between two lakes without being on either. Coniston Water is four miles to the northwest, Windermere four miles to the northeast, and the village occupies the pastoral middle ground between them, in country that most people drive past on their way somewhere with a name they recognise.
The walking is the reason to stop. Grizedale Forest lies to the north — 8,000 acres with its sculpture trail, and Bouth sits at the southern approach, which makes it a sensible place to start before the car parks fill. South of the village the Rusland Valley runs toward Haverthwaite, the Rusland Pool meandering through woodland and meadow at a pace that suits an unhurried afternoon. East are the Furness Fells and open fell walking above Force Mills and Finsthwaite.
The nearest church is Holy Trinity at Colton, of medieval origins, standing at the top of a steep rise above the hamlet with long views across the Furness Fells. It is a climb, but the view does the arguing for it.
There are no shops. For those you go to Newby Bridge or Ulverston, and for everything else you need a car, because there is no railway and no regular bus — just minor roads off the A590 through Force Mills or Haverthwaite.
Which is how Bouth prefers it. A village that lost its through-traffic two centuries ago and never especially wanted it back, holding on to its one pub and doing rather well out of the arrangement.
