Last updated 19:42, Thursday, 08 May 2008

ENGLAND’S highest restaurant - on Skiddaw - will open for a second day next week due to demand.

Keswick chef Peter Sidwell announced in March that he planned to open a restaurant for a special lunch on top of Skiddaw during the Cumberland Ale Keswick Mountain Festival.

He has been inundated by calls from walkers anxious to sample his food on the summit.

As a result, he will serve high altitude three course lunches next Thursday, as well as the original date of Wednesday, to meet the extra demand.

Sixty tickets have been sold for the meals, which will be served in tents 3,000 feet up.

Reservations have been made by people as far afield as Surrey, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle.

Instead of the usual mountain-top fare of sandwiches and fruit cake wrapped in cellophane, diners can look forward to a high class meal seated at a table.

Peter, who owns the Good Taste café and deli in Keswick, said: “Originally we'd planned to do just one meal but we had so many people wanting to book a place that we decided to open the restaurant on Thursday too.

“I am delighted to find that there's so much demand for high altitude dining.”

The first course will be a wild mushroom and wild garlic soup served with home made bread.

This will be followed by a confit of seared roast lamb and seared rump of lamb with damson and rosemary jus. There will be a vegetarian option of roasted butternut squash, pinenut and ricotta crumble.

The meal will finish with a Grasmere Gingerbread and white chocolate cheesecake served with an orange and crystallised ginger salsa.

Walking guide Tim Mosedale, of Keswick, will escort the diners on the walk from the centre of Keswick to the top of Skiddaw.

Tables and chairs will be set up for the lunch in Mountain Hardware Space Station Tents, so the diners will be protected from the elements. The tents are used by climbers in extreme locations.

A specialist Dome 5 tent has also been provided by North Face for use as the kitchen.

The tents and catering equipment will be taken up Skiddaw the day before by Gordie Oliver from Air Ventures, using quad bikes and trailers provided by Paul Chuter from All Terrain Vehicles in Cockermouth.

Cheryl Frost, from the Cumberland Ale Keswick Mountain Festival said: “This has certainly been an interesting logistical challenge for everyone involved, but it's not every day you get the chance to set up a restaurant on one of England's highest peaks.

“It's a fantastic addition to all the activities taking place at this year's Festival."

The festival runs from Wednesday until Sunday and ibcludes more than 100 activities including walks, canoeing, climbing and navigation courses.

There will be talks by mountaineers Sir Chris Bonington and Alan Hinkes. Tickets for the talks can be bought from the Theatre by the Lake on 017687 74411.