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road, are so luxurious. After a day trekking the moors what bliss to come back to lashings of hot water and a comfortable big bed, complimentary chocolates, comfy robes, fat white towels, space to lounge in – and chess! It is Juliet who is the founder of the recently inaugurated Chocolate Festival, but the Angel has been putting on special events for years. During
“Everything is cooked individually in little skillets: we’ve always been slow and would never rush a thing” September’s Seafood Festival, stylish seafood platters spill over with lobster, crab, langoustines, oysters, prawns, smoked salmon, mussels and scallops; at the summer barbecue you get Dales spit-roast lamb with live jazz. There are Winter Warmers in the bar and Supper by the Fire with English pies and stews, sponges and crumbles. The bar is informal, the restaurant is smart and people travel miles for Bruce Elsworth’s cooking: black pudding with spiced apple compote, roasted mallard breast with thyme mash, seared brill with langoustine purée, Granny Smith 244
crumble cheescake. The pub also does an ‘Inn Focus’ newsletter for the public: news and views, events and local suppliers. “I’ve tried to build on what Denis has done, not to change it radically but to give it a fresh look. At first I didn’t want anything to change, but now we are redesigning our menus – with four distinct seasons.” The rustic Wine Cave across the road adds another, unusual, touch. It is Pascal’s baby. “The Angel has been importing wines from small producers for fifteen years. We get our house wine from Georges Blanc in Burgundy. Dad even bought a cottage in Burgundy, he loved it so much. I came back into the business five years ago after training at Oddbins and in 2002 I did a wine-making course. Grape picking is the hardest job I have ever done. Dad said, ‘Son, it’s the only honest job you’ve done in your life!’ “l am a Burgundy specialist and run professional wine tastings for up to eight people at lunchtimes. People come from far and wide. There is nothing here that you would find in a supermarket and there aren’t many places like this in the country. Many Burgundy producers are small and don’t use chemicals, apart from, perhaps, copper sulphate spray.” Juliet and Denis were way ahead of their time in many ways. They banned smoking years ago, long before banning it became a political necessity. They