Venturing to the Lakes is always exciting for me - as a Southerner, it's not somewhere I've frequented very often, so I never tire of getting on the train and suddenly being propelled into the countryside. On our last trip, it was a celebratory affair with my boyf's dad's birthday almost upon us (30, again?) and we were all looking forward to our trip to The General Burgoyne. Walking in, it's cozy and there are plenty of bits and bobs to look at, including a rather fetching if not slightly out of place fox tail. We were quickly seated and our orders taken - in fact, we felt well looked after throughout the evening, with all requests being seen to quickly and with a smile. Starters are the real highlight here. My goats cheese bon bons, served with pine nuts and a kind of olive tapenade, were worth shouting about; creamy and well balanced, I could have had them twice over. Everyone's dishes were beautifully presented and involved interesting flavour combinations - the chicken and sweetcorn "soup" for example included chicken and sweet chilli wontons, with tiny cylinders of chicken mousse. I wasn't feel too adventurous with my main, so went for the rump steak medium-rare. It was perfectly colours, but a touch chewy, especially the last few bites. The twice cooked chips were really tasty, but the onion rings were a flop, greasy and lacking in anything exciting. In hindsight, perhaps I should've gone for the Mediterranean vegetable offering - I'm just a sucker for a grill! We all shared two portions of the award winning Peanuts and a Pint, which was interesting to say the least. Not much of it was to my taste, but the presentation was stunning and I can completely see why it won. The Old Tom jelly was really interesting and worth a try by any real ale fans. Well worth the trip; a culinary adventure with traditional roots.