The Feathers Inn

Rhian and Helen Cradock, and Rhian's parents Richard and Jyll, took over this small, stone-built free house overlooking the splendid Cheviot Hills in 2007. Their three-roomed pub is well patronised by the local community, but visitors too are always charmed by its friendly and relaxed atmosphere. Old oak beams, coal fires, rustic settles, and stone walls decorated with local photographs of rural life make an ideal setting in which to appreciate the bar's mainly locally brewed cask ales, including the graphically named Mordue Workie Ticket and Consett Red Dust. There's also a good selection of traditional pub games like shove ha'penny and bar skittles, but most people will be here for a meal. From the very outset, it was the Cradocks' intention to serve the very best food in an informal yet professionally run environment. Award-winning chef Rhian puts on daily-changing menus of great British classics and North East regional dishes, for whose ingredients he always knows the full provenance. On lunch menus you'll find beer-battered North Sea skate wing with chunky chips; jugged hare with tarragon; slow-roast Ravensworth Grange middle white pork; and lentil and chestnut shepherd's pie. In the evening, menus list grilled wild halibut; loin of Bill Fail's Currock Hill lamb stuffed with sweetbreads; and Doddington's cheese, spinach and beetroot pie. Rhian also believes in simply plated but flawlessly prepared desserts, such as gooseberry meringue pie and burnt Northumbrian cream. Groups might like to put together a feasting menu along the lines of, for example, home-made black pudding to begin, whole roast suckling pig as the main course, and a selection of Northumbrian cheeses to follow.

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Nearest station: Stocksfield

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