A week in Yorkshire and surrounds

My parents are visiting from Australia for 6 weeks, during which time they will be exploring England and France (the first European trip for my mum in 35 years, and a first ever trip to these parts for my dad). After a whirl wind one day in London mum, dad, Y & I all jumped on the train to Manchester. From there we collected our hire car and, after the requisite family arguments involving driving and the sat navigation system, we headed off on a week’s holiday.Our base for the week was an 18th Century barn (above), converted into a holiday cottage by the National Trust. The barn was in Widdop, in the middle of nowhere, overlooking beautiful rolling green hills, with lambs running around farms enclosed by centuries’ old stone walls. Widdop is about 1.5 hours drive north east of Manchester, between Burnley & Bradford in west Yorkshire. Our closest village was the lovely grey stone Hebden Bridge, which was surprisingly foodie and boasted an organic cafe, a well stocked Co-Operative supermarket which seemed always open, a few lovely delis and bakeries, and an excellent butcher (Stephen Maskill butchers, next door to the Spar supermarket from memory).
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On our first night we bought a lovely rolled pork loin from said butcher, which we roasted, firstly at high heat to produce gorgeous crackling, and then at a lower heat for a couple of hours. A delicious roast dinner in the countryside! Day 2 and we headed further north to the Lakes District. Notable stops from the mind of one always concerned about her next meal were:
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1. Sizergh Farm Shop, which is on the same estate as the National Trust’s Sizergh Castle. We didn’t need any produce at the time, but had a coffee in the cafe overlooking the dairy (which was apparently crowned organic dairy of the year in 2006). The farm shop is certainly well stocked with all sorts of chutneys, meats, cheeses etc. 2. Lucy Cooks, a cooking school in Staveley, near Lake Windermere and Kendal. My sister, brother and I had given mum and dad vouchers to the cooking school for Christmas, and on Saturday night mum, dad, Y & I attended one of the Demo & Dine classes, which involved 24 “students” sitting at a large table as we watched chef Dale (“Yorkshire Dale” as we named him) produce a 3 course menu of local Cumbrian delights. We were warmly greeted by staff with a lovely cocktail of vodka, rose, ginger beer and lime juice.
The menu was not overly complicated, but as Dale had to first demonstrate the dishes, then plate up for 24 people (with the assistance of only one other), under the watchful eye of said hungry people, I can hardly criticise the school on that basis! We started with tiny little shrimp cooked in butter, garlic, chilli, coriander and orange rind,served on toasted bread. Personally I could have done with much more of the garlic, chilli and coriander, but perhaps this was just my taste buds as others thought the level of chilli was just right.My favourite dish was the main course, which was perfectly cooked, pink roast lamb chump – from lamb reared just across the paddock (hopefully the lamb's mates couldn't see into the kitchen).

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Chef Dale made a red wine jus and served the lamb with shallot puree, fondant potato, roast cherry tomatoes and purple sprouting broccoli. The serving sizes were extremely generous and it broke my heart to not be able to finish my lamb as it was just gorgeous. Dessert was a sizeable portion of sticky toffee pudding, flooded with butterscotch sauce and cream. Again, I couldn’t do this yummy dessert justice, but I did my best. There is a class room upstairs at Lucy Cooks for interactive classes to take place. The classes include knife skills, French cooking, pastry, seafood and plenty more, - if the very friendly staff and personable chefs are anything to go by, the other classes would be an absolute pleasure.
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Next door to Lucy Cooks is More? Artisan Bakery, where we returned the next morning for Illy coffee and bacon butties. Rather delish!
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On day 3 it was into the Yorkshire Dales. We discovered Airton, where Townend Farm Shop is happily situated.

From here we purchased the locally produced Wensleydale blue cheese, Ribblehead sheeps milk cheese, olives, bread, Penrith venison pate and smoked trout which would be our dinner. Lunch was an impressive meal nearby at the Angel Inn in Hetten. Once installed into this wood lined, cosy pub, we devoured rare breed suckling pig, deep sea Hake, wild Sea Bream and hogget sausages (photos below). A lovely find in a very pretty little village. On Day 4 we went to York to walk around the historic walled city. On the recommendation of Nicola of The Shed Supper Club, we lunched at Betty’s Tea Rooms. It appears we weren’t the first people Nicola told of this establishment, which opened in York in 1919, as we had to queue outside (in what northerners seemed to consider balmy weather, but what we Aussies thought was rather chilly) for half an hour before securing a table. Our light lunches of grilled Scottish salmon salad, fish cakes, chicken salad, and club sandwich were simple but tasty. Of course, Betty’s is famous more for her cakes than salads, so we were therefore obliged to purchase an elderflower cake, milk chocolate and Betty’s coffee on the way out. I’ve tried all three (the sacrifices I make for you, dear reader, to ensure honest reporting) and the cake and coffee (made in the plunger (for the Aussies) or the cafetiere (for the more refined English)) were particularly delicious.

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That night we enjoyed mushroom spelt risotto made by yours truly, followed by a nibble of Betty’s cake and chocolate.
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Day 5 saw us heading south to the Peak District. Although I preferred the National Trust’s Lyme Park to Chatsworth House, the Farm Shop on the Chatsworth Estate was impressive – resembling more the food hall of a posh department store than a countryside produce shop. We ate lunch at the farm shop restaurant which relies on local produce and knows better than to mess with it – pate, cheese, and oat cakes sustained us until dinner.

(My apologies, the only photo I have of the Chatsworth Farm Shop has my mug in it)

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On our late arrival back to the barn we gobbled up our purchases from the farm shop – pork & stilton pie, chicken & ham pie, lamb & mint pasty, salmon & leek quiche, roasted cherry tomatoes, asparagus, and caramelised onion chutney. Having never tasted the seemingly ubiquitous British pie, I was rather impressed, although my eyes were far bigger than my tummy (incredible, I know) and I was only able to have some of the pork and lamb pastry encased offerings.On day 6 we drove to the incredible Fountains Abbey, just outside of Ripon. I loved the ruins of this 13th Century abbey and its grounds so much I had to find something food related to justify including it in this post – will a valley of beautiful wild garlic do? I picked a generous handful of the gorgeous wild garlic to add to our final dinner in the barn. From Chatsworth Farm Shop the day before we’d bought a corn fed chook, Dutch carrots, potatoes and fennel.I chopped up some of the wild garlic leaves and mixed them with butter. I then pushed the butter garlic mix under the skin of the chicken, between the skin and the breast. I also sprinkled the garlic leaves over the vegetables, and all this went in to the oven to roast. The chicken was delicious – rather succulent, most probably because of its superior upbringing, but I like to think the dollops of butter I shoved in it had some bearing on it also. The wild garlic leaves were definitely garlicky but subtle and lovely with the vegetables and chicken. It's possible the leftover chicken tasted even better the next day on the train back to London.

What a fabulous week! (and you've only heard about the food side of it!)

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With special thanks to Y, the budding photographer.