Sunday 31 August 2014

Eglingham, The Tankerville Arms

Posh pub, great eating ( they have bedrooms too)
8 miles north west of Alnwick, on the way to Chillingham


Northumberland possesses that conflicting quality, doesn't it?  You know you have stumbled on something magnificent but not everybody knows about it and... you want to keep it for yourself.

I'd been talking about taking the boy to Chillingham to see the wild cattle but didn't really know where it was and our first rekky last week was way off the mark - the little leaflet they do suggests it's just outside Alnwick. In fact it's way past Eglingham on these amazing rolling roads, where every turn brings a new view of the misty blue Cheviots over undulating countryside and where the houses belong to another land, another century...

Okay, so the journey itself is a fantastic ride and for me that is fifty per cent of the joy of exploration.  And on the way you drive through pretty little Eglingham, which feels so cloistered away from the rest of the world. On the left going north there's this old sandstone pub, where you can park on the forecourt.  We saw locals walking down for their tea at The Tankerville Arms.



I think we were fortunate getting there before 6pm because all the tables had been booked but they did have a gap on one table in the bar so we grabbed it and had our drinks while we waited for the food to begin.

Himself had the steak and I had the lobster. Oh my goodness, what a greedy, gourmandising way to end the long summer break.  How nice the lasses and the manager were to us too.





And how nicely designed the pub furniture was too and how well polished; I loved the funny little carvings of trumpeters under the mantelpiece, the well-made modern stained glass in the doors, the chunky furniture - great details for a visitor to enjoy. Not part of a national chain nor is it rustic in any way.

No comments:

Post a Comment