The Sunday Times - 31st August 2003

Utterly Enjoyable Mild Eccentricity

Now, I’m all for the GHG (Good Hotel Guide) judges’ habit of naming each Cesar award to fit the property selected, rather than finding a place to fit a category. But they’ve got to watch they don’t get too cute. Utterly enjoyable mild eccentricity? Isn’t that how you’d describe Fawlty Towers on one of Basil’s calmer days? As a result, I turned up at this enlarged 17th century coaching inn expecting the owner – Richard Bowman, a former Lancashire cricketer – to be wandering around in his whites, batting bread rolls to the guests over dinner. But it was nothing like that. For mild eccentricity, read genuine character; and add excellent food and décor to boot. This is as good an example of the English inn as you could hope to find: a roomy, well kept place, furnished with flair and obvious expense, and a delight to stay in.

Location: 10/10
On the banks of the River Hodder in the Trough of Bowland, a sunken, secret corner of Lancashire that most people have never heard of.

Rooms: 10/10
Room 12 is the one to go for. I stayed there and it was the best of the entire trip, boasting a high, pitched ceiling, and equipped with a TV, phone, CD Player and lots of big, solid pieces of antique furniture – the highlight of which was the huge, firm four-poster bed.

Service: 8/10
A little too reliant on teens and twentysomethings in the restaurant. But at least everyone was well trained and fairly confident.

Food: 10/10
A real treat. They use lots of local produce, such as corn-fed Goosnargh chicken, and combine flavours and textures with skill and subtlety. The highlight for me was a peppered beef salad with a salty olive tapenade ad a carrot and pea salad. There’s a cracking wine list, too (the inn doubles as a wine merchant’s), with most bottles in the £15-£30 range.

Décor: 9/10
Cool and uncluttered. One of the other rooms I sneaked a peak at however seemed to have suffered a style bypass; it’s No.4, and if you’re planning to come here you should give it a miss.

Value for money: 10/10

Does it deserve its Cesar?
No. It deserves something more; the Platonic Ideal of English Inns, perhaps, or maybe the Cesar of Cesar’s. It’s one of the best places I’ve stayed at in recent years.