The Dolly Blue Bar in Newby Bridge & Restaurant blends contemporary style and local ingredients to create a perfect setting for casual dining and special occasions. With a riverside beer garden, guests can enjoy a range of drinks and pub food in a picturesque setting.
Yer Flowers is a testament to Southern culture and hospitality. Here, a lack of segregation is celebrated and recipes, music, folk beliefs, and transportation routes combine into one cauldron of Southern identity.
Dolly Blue Bar & Restaurant
Located on the site of the former Backbarrow Ultramarine Works, the Dolly Blue Bar and Restaurant offers a culinary experience that is both modern and reflective of the area’s history. The restaurant’s menu features dishes that showcase culinary creativity and local ingredients, and its decor and atmosphere are designed to complement the historical narrative, creating a fully immersive experience for guests.
The Dolly Blue Bar & Restaurant is a popular place for guests to enjoy cocktails, beer, and wine. The drinks on offer are made with a range of premium spirits and ingredients, including bourbon, apple brandy, maple demerara syrup, and creme de menthe. Guests can also enjoy light bites like the sweet bourbon baba, which is a yeasted cake soaked in bourbon, honey, orange, and cardamom syrup.
As its name suggests, the Dolly Blue Bar is named after a famous laundry dye that was derived from a pigment known as ultramarine. The original pigment was sourced from the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli, but scientists developed a synthetic version in the early 19th century that was both cheaper and just as effective at dyeing fabrics blue.
Today, the Dolly Blue Bar & Restaurant is regarded as one of the best places to enjoy an evening out in the Lake District. The bar is open for both lunch and dinner, and guests can dine indoors in the cosy bar area or outside in the beer garden to enjoy stunning views of the river and countryside.
The restaurant offers a variety of delicious menu offerings that highlight the best of Lakeland ingredients and culinary creativity. Diners can choose from a wide range of wines and cocktails, including the classic martini, which is made with vodka, lime juice, gin, vermouth, and bitters. The Dolly Blue Bar is also an excellent choice for afternoon tea, offering a selection of different teas, crafted sandwiches, and scones.
Located near the scenic Helm Crag, Dolly Blue is an ideal destination for visitors looking to explore the picturesque village of Greenodd and its surrounding landscape. The bar is also a great place to enjoy a cold beer or a glass of wine with friends and family while listening to live music.
The Whitewater Hotel
A visit to Dolly Blue is a journey back in time. The former pigment factory now hosts a hotel, restaurants and a spa. Its design blends sophistication and creativity, with hints of whimsy that will delight Instagrammers. The bar is a study in contrasts, with luxurious leather booths and armchairs cleverly juxtaposed with the exposed brick walls and pipe-laden ceiling. Wall sconces adorned with iron monkeys gripping umbrella-shaped lamps add another layer of fun.
The hotel itself is a luxury retreat that blends modern comforts with historical intrigue. Its 38 luxury en suite bedrooms boast stunning riverside views. Its Riverside Restaurant serves first-class cuisine that showcases the finest local produce.
Visitors can also take in a show at the hotel’s theatre. Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede is billed as an “extraordinary dinner show,” but it’s really a lily-white kitsch extravaganza that pits North against South in a friendly and playful rivalry. It’s the Lost Cause of the Civil War meets Cirque du Soleil.
If you’d rather have a quieter night, the Whitewater has an excellent pub. Its beer garden offers stunning views of the river and surrounding landscape. It also serves up a range of hearty British classics.
The main factory building is now the Whitewater Hotel, which contains recreated scenes of the factory’s 92 years of operation using dressed mannequins and hundreds of artifacts. The hotel is also home to the Leven Valley Heritage Centre, which includes a museum and recreations of the process. The museum is free to all, but guests of the hotel receive a discount.
Located in Haverthwaite, the Whitewater Hotel is an ideal base for exploring the Lake District. It’s minutes from the Grizedale Forest and offers an indoor pool, Jacuzzi and outdoor tennis courts. Guests can also enjoy a spa and leisure club, which includes an indoor whirlpool, sauna and steam room and a fitness center. There are two conference rooms as well. During their stay, guests can indulge in a selection of treatments, including facials and massages.
The Backbarrow Ultramarine Works
The village of Backbarrow has a rich industrial heritage and Dolly Blue is just one part of this story. The iconic laundry product reflects the ingenuity of a bygone era, as well as the evolution of domestic life. The name also represents a critical chapter in British manufacturing, and it’s still an important part of our local history today.
In the early 1900s, the village was home to the Lancashire Ultramarine Works Company, a famous manufacturer of pigments and dyes, including Dolly Blue. The company was known for its innovative manufacturing approach and significant contribution to the local economy. The factory became a village landmark, symbolising the region’s rich industrial history.
Dolly Blue was a blue pigment called ultramarine, historically sourced from the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli. However, in the early 19th century a breakthrough in technology led to the creation of synthetic ultramarine, which significantly reduced production costs and made the pigment more affordable for everyday use. The pigment was then mixed with other ingredients, including china clay and rosin, to create the final product.
The original factory was a hive of activity, generating much needed employment and boosting the local economy. The work was hard, but the pay was good and people from across the country flocked to Backbarrow for jobs at the mill. This was a time of great economic advancement, and people were becoming increasingly accustomed to new household products that would make their lives easier.
Originally, the Backbarrow Ironworks was powered by limestone and iron ore extracted from the Leven Valley’s woodlands. However, it wasn’t until the 1800s that charcoal was used for firing the furnaces. This marked the beginning of a long-term partnership between the iron industry and the woodlands that gave it its raw materials.
The Backbarrow area is internationally significant for its historic links with the iron and steel industry. The site of the original factory now hosts a luxurious four-star hotel, and a large portion of the main factory building has been preserved for posterity. There are displays of machinery on the grounds and inside the hotel, as well as recreations using dressed mannequins.
The History of Dolly Blue
In a time before automatic washing machines and fabric softeners, Dolly Blue was one of the most ubiquitous household products used to whiten fabrics. It was a solid cake of blue dye that added a subtle tint to laundry and linens, counteracting yellowing and creating an illusion of bright whiteness. Housekeepers simply dissolved a small portion of the product in water to soak clothing and bedding for washing. The name Dolly Blue was a nod to two famous Edge family names, William and Dorothy, as well as the company’s trademark image of the drummer boy (associated with Drummer dyes for home dyeing).
Dolly Blue’s development came during the early 1900s, a period marked by significant advancements in household products and a general shift towards greater convenience for domestic chores. Developed by William Edge, the company’s ingenuity reflected the changing societal landscape and a growing need for efficient, practical solutions to daily tasks.
Initially, Dolly Blue was made from a pigment known as ultramarine, which was derived from the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli. However, a synthetic version was later created, providing an affordable alternative. This was then combined with other ingredients such as china clay and rosin to produce the final product.
Though the Backbarrow Ultramarine Works have since closed, Dolly Blue continues to be an iconic part of British history and a reminder of the ingenuity of an era. It also represents a key chapter in the evolution of domestic life and highlights the importance of quality products that meet customers’ needs and expectations.
Today, finding Dolly Blue can be difficult, but a few niche retailers and online marketplaces still sell it for those with a keen interest in historical household items. At the Whitewater Hotel, visitors can enjoy modern culinary offerings that showcase local Lake District ingredients, all while exploring this intriguing chapter of history.
Located on the site of the original Dolly Blue factory in Backbarrow, The Whitewater Hotel is an exquisite Lake District retreat that provides the perfect blend of modern luxury and historic intrigue. Featuring 38 luxury en-suite rooms and a stylish Dolly Blue bar and restaurant, this stunning hotel is the ideal destination for weekend breaks, fine dining, meetings and events, and spa treatments.
