Chesters By The River, Ambleside: Is it Worth Visiting?

Chesters By The River café and shop is located just outside Ambleside in Skelwith Bridge. It’s perfectly positioned to visit if you’re heading through Central Lakes or towards Coniston and beyond and is close to a few iconic walks in the Lake District, like some of the trails that start in Elterwater.

Its picturesque location on the edge of the River Brathay close to Skelwith Force is only part of its appeal. The food is incredibly good too; it’s bright, inventive and modern. It’s popular for a reason, but that does mean it can get incredibly busy.

The café has a warm feel year-round and has great options for everyone, and you’ll see people of all ages there when you visit. The name of the place pretty much says it all, and they have plenty of outdoor, covered/partially covered seating next to the river itself, so you can enjoy your food with the views out.

Sitting outside is one of the best bits if you can: you’ll either see the calm flow of the river or if it’s been raining heavily, the sound of the water running quickly. If the weather’s not right, there’s also a decent amount of seating indoors too.

They also have a gorgeous homeware, lifestyle and gift shop next door which has the same kind of vibe as the café. It’s well worth checking out whilst you’re at the café (and you’ll probably end up spending more money there too).

There’s only been a few times we’ve visited and found Chesters quiet. However, the busy feel of the café doesn’t stop it feeling calm and it’s a great spot to visit. I probably visit once a week as I pass by the area, as their cake has a hold on me.

Food & Drink at Chesters By The River: What to Expect

Chesters By The River menu changes seasonally. When you enter, there’s a long counter with a lot of fresh savoury and sweet bakes, salads, sandwiches etc. They also have a hot food board behind the counter (with food served from here currently until 3pm).

The hot and cold food are both equally good and are all very hearty portions. So, you can pick and choose what works best for you. At this point I’ve pretty much tried everything on their menu as it changes.

All of their dishes are really inventive. Their changing menu makes it hard to pinpoint exact savoury dishes, but they do have a fairly big focus on warm herbs and spices, a lot of curry-based things and hearty bakes like sausage rolls and pasties. Even with the rotations, I would say it’s well worth visiting for the food alone.

In terms of the savoury food, it’s really well flavoured, but it can be very garlicy and quite oily at times. I sometimes find it can sit a little heavy on my stomach, so just keep this in mind.

They’re also well known for their cakes, and they’ll taunt you for the entire time you queue along the counter where they’re out for you to see. Their bakes (mostly offered as tray bakes) are top tier.

I’d highly recommend things like the Bakewell Slice, the Victoria Sponge and the Chocolate and Caramel. The cakes are always fluffy, light and moist. You also get a generous portion.

I do think the cinnamon buns, pastries and other items like this can be a bit mid sometimes. They can feel a bit drier than you’d like and I’d usually always get cake over one of these.

They also have a drinks fridge which has quite a lot of soft drinks and also local breweries beers (try Lakes Brew if you fancy one) as well as canned cocktails. Hot drinks wise, they have coffee, tea etc. The coffee is ok if you need caffeinating, but if you’re looking for something barista level, I usually hold out. It really depends on who’s making it.

Everything is easy to order for sit in or take away and perfect if you want something for later on (as they do close at 4pm). They always package things really well for take away so it’s easy to take on a walk as well.

In terms of pricing, I’d say it’s what you’d expect for a popular Lake District cafe. The portions are generous, so I think it feels good value. Cakes and bakes are roughly £4-£6 and other dishes are upwards of that.

Dietary Options at Chesters By The River

Most people visit Chesters By The River because it’s well known and rightly so: the food and the location are great.

People are often surprised to notice that the food is vegetarian, and mostly vegan too. The café just doesn’t make a big deal about it.

I actually think this is a really positive thing as it’s a great café that serves good food that happens to also be naturally veggie and vegan. The queues out the door speak for themselves.

They don’t label food as vegetarian or vegan at the counter, they just list what allergens each item has, and which items are gluten free. So, it’s good for everyone, their cake tastes literally no different from something that would contain dairy.

Pretty much everything is vegan apart from a couple of things: if you get the scone, ask specifically for vegan butter. The pizza slices/pizza focaccia generally have dairy cheese, and they also offer dairy milk for tea and coffee as well as plant-based milk. It’s worth asking just to double check in case that ever changes.

Their savoury food can be garlicy and onion heavy, and they do use generous amounts of oil in their salads etc, so if this is an issue for you, I’d recommend sticking to their sandwiches and sausage roll.

What to Know Before You Go

The Café is open every day from 9am until 4pm. However, this can vary around holidays, so I’d always recommend checking the Chesters By The River opening times online in advance of heading there.

In terms of parking, there’s a smallish car park outside the main café and shop and an overflow car park just before it. This can be busy at peak times, but things do move pretty fluidly, so you won’t usually be waiting too long for a space.  

It’s worth keeping in mind that if you do want hot food, they only serve this from 11:30am until 3pm. They do generally still have a number of savoury bakes and also cakes until closing time, so not all is lost, but if you do want the full experience, you should get there before 3pm.

On weekends, especially between about 11am and 3pm, you can expect it to be really busy. If eating in, you find a table to sit down yourself and it’s all pretty casual.

Whether you’re eating in or getting take away, you need to queue up at the main counter to order. You do need to get a table number first when you arrive which means one of you will need to stay with the table whilst the other orders.

This system is the main bottleneck of Chesters by the River, and I do think it’d be better if they had table service for people eating in, which would ease the flow here quite a bit.

The food is quite quick to arrive when you’ve ordered, but the ordering system isn’t the best presently. There can sometimes be queues out the door, but it does move relatively quickly.

If you’re planning to get food for a walk, especially on weekends, I would highly recommend getting there before 11am. Otherwise you might be waiting for up to 20-30 minutes to order and that can obviously cut into the time you had planned for other things.

When it’s Worth Visiting

If you can, it’s worth getting there early (before 11am) if you want to get a takeaway and have the rest of the day planned. You’ll have to wait less, and the queue will be much shorter. Sometimes you’ll even get served straight away.

If you’re looking to make a special trip to eat here, getting to the café at around 12 or after 2pm will be likely your best chance of missing the really busy period at lunch time.

However, you can usually expect it to be really busy on weekends throughout, so if you’re visiting for a few days and have the option to, avoid the weekend for a more fluid and calm experience.

School holidays and public holidays make it busy all the time, we usually park up and judge whether we’re going to stay based on how long the queue is out the door, and come back later, even if that means missing some of the best bakes.

Walks Near Chesters By The River

There are quite a few walks near Chesters By The River, which makes it really understandable to see why it’s so popular. For me, it’s a really nice treat on the way to or from a walk.

You can actually pass the cafe directly on a walking route if you do the Elterwater to Skelwith Bridge walk, which we have a full guide to. Chesters By The River is a short distance from Skelwith Force waterfall and just before you meet Skelwith Bridge, which is the turn around spot on this trail.

It’s also on the main route between Ambleside and Coniston, making it an easy stop if you’re heading to walks like The Old Man of Coniston.

In the same area, a lot of the trails close to Ambleside like the main Rydal Cave walk and the Loughrigg Fell walk are close by. It’s also pretty close to other places like Tarn Hows, Cathedral Cavern and the Langdales which means you can visit Chesters and explore these walks on the same day.

Chesters is quite close to Skelwith Force which leads on to Elterwater, and you do get a few people who park up at Chesters and then head off on the walk. However, there are signs up in the car park asking you not to do this.

There is plenty of parking (both paid and free in Elterwater) so it’s best to just park up there and keep the car park moving for other people wanting to visit the café.