Holidays In Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire
Places To Eat
Eating locally is almost always in pubs but the food is in many cases at the gastro pub level. Some of them have grown the food side to the extent that the 'wet trade' is almost vestigial. The comments I make below have benefited from input from local users as well as guests and any feedback is welcome. Please email us on stay@nenevalleycottages.co.uk to add to the collective knowledge.
If you are over in Cambridge or are happy to make the trip, Midsummer House, Cambridge is as good as you will find. The setting on Midsummer Common in an old keeper's cottage overlooking the river is near perfect and the two Michelin stars are testament to the quality of the kitchen. The light, Mediterranean food is probably best suited to a summer evening when you can have a drink outside beforehand but, frankly, if you are guided by your tummy and the wallet can cope, it is great at any time of the year. Telephone 01223 369299.
The Falcon, Fotheringhay
Probably my favourite. You can get a decent pint of beer in the bar or eat in the conservatory. It is advisable to book at busy times.
A couple of years ago, The Falcon was sold to the management. Anne had her 50th birthday girls' lunch there recently and they cooked an impeccable lunch for 30. Our friends the Simpsons have confirmed the view that if anything it has improved following the change of ownership. Telephone 01832 226254.
The Black Horse at Elton
Simpler cooking, but definitely a cut above pub grub but there is always good fresh fish and the vegetables are well cooked which can be rare in pubs. Choose food from an eclectic menu on the blackboard while you drink in the bar. The wine list is short and unadventurous but good value. Given what I said about The Falcon, it is surprising that we eat here most frequently. Maybe it is because things are a bit less formal here: no tablecloths, no fuss. Recent guests rated it higher than the Pheasant and Snooty Fox which is praise indeed. Give it a try. Telephone 01832 280240.
The Fox, Thorpe Waterville
The entry for the Fox became cumbersome with time; for those not following the saga, it has suffered from different landlords have promised much but, in the words of Philip Larkin, a shower of arrows has fallen as rain. And then came Genti, from Albania, via the Red Lion at East Haddon who spruced up the menu, then the decor and has attracted enough trade in the recession to justify a refurbished carpark.
From his first week, I have had issues with Genti over the winelist. He is a tied house and must buy poor wines already horribly marked up by Charles Wells which he proceeds to mark up again. He knows that there is only so much that people will pay round here for a bottle and ends up hitting the pricepoint before the quality gets to drinkable.
How's the food? Good to excellent and good value. He keeps it simple, cooks what he does well, shows real enthusiasm and knows that a bum on a seat may have another course or a second drink. Fish and chips is £8.95 and really very good, as is the huge mixed seafood grill. Meat dishes are perhaps a bit too predictable but quality meat, well cooked doesn't need to be adventurous.
It has certainly attracted favourable feedback to us. Niall Ledger recently wrote 'I'd be happy to recommend the place to friends - and having spent 10 years in the restaurant and pub trade, I'm pretty hard to please!' Even more positive is the feedback from someone who remembers The Fox of old: 'Never thought we'd say this but we LOVED The Fox... a winner.'
They aren't full every night but often enough to make it advisory. Please, if you are wine drinkers and would have bought a decent bottle, ask for Genti and tell him. I have tried to agree a deal whereby I buy a bottle of wine and pour it away so that I can drink one I have brought with me but apparently the brewery won't allow that either. Did you see The Lives of Others? Telephone 01832 720274.
The Pheasant, Keyston
Hardly a pub now, the restaurant and bar serve some of the best food in the area and the winelist is long, interesting and good value. The food is rich and they want to make your evening an occasion. It's a laudable sentiment but sometimes it's just a meal you are after. One solution is to eat in the bar, not the restaurant, where the tendency to formality is lost. You will like the food and the beer and wine are both good so it is well worth a visit. The cricketers amongst you may also like to note that Alan Lamb was seen ordering beef but, sadly, not accompanied by Botham who might otherwise have tucked into the lamb.
In January, 2010, The Pheasant won the Best British Restaurant category in the Ramsay TV competition and was runner up in the competition overall. Interestingly, over elaboration was the reason for them not quite making top spot; ox heart as part of 'beef cooked three ways' can seem busy rather than an honest offering of offal. It's why I love Hix in Smithfield but dislike the branch in Soho that has airs that don't sit comfortably with the traditional 'nose to tail' food. A follow up visit confirmed that the food is top notch and the staff enthusiastic and knowledgeable. I like to think that they have studied at the feet of Fergus Henderson and brought some of his wisdom to Huntingdonshire. Rather than listen to me, visit what by any reckoning is an excellent restaurant and send your feedback. Telephone 01832 710241.
The George, Buckden
This started with a bang: an opened up coaching inn, large zinc bar, comfy chairs, good food, a buzz. A bit too good to be true, it trained off with a visit suffering from disappointingly overcooked food and no enquiry as to why we didn't eat our main courses. Once again, one poor meal doesn't mean the place has lost its touch, but positive feedback will be needed to remove the suspicion that they are resting on their laurels. The wine list has got better and is a tad more adventurous than at the outset. It looks a long way on the map but you can be there in 15 minutes.
However, two recent lunch visits were excellent and, very encouragingly, nearly full. Razor clams were steamed to perfection and I had room left for a further course. Fish and chips were an excellent example of something that is hard to cook well. Telephone 01480 812300.
The Shuckburgh Arms, Stoke Doyle closed for a major refurb and has reopened as a very promising gastropub. It has lost the fireplace and the skittles and gone for the light wood look which may date rapidly but this is no longer meant to be a drinking pub. Red meat is reared in the village with free range chicken, eggs and beer coming from Barnwell. To save you looking this up on the map, it means that a good chunk of what you consume was made within a couple of miles of where you eat it and five miles from Nene Valley Cottages. Mains start at £7 and there has recently been a broadening of the fish offer although the dishes do seem to comprise permutations of scallops, cod and prawns. But they have devilled kidneys which is one of those dishes that tell you there is a foodie in the kitchen. A good selection of wines by the glass, both big and small, compensates for a slightly limited list. We last went on a Wednesday evening and it was full and doing a second sitting as we left. The only advice I would give is to say if you want your meat less cooked than most as they have a tendency otherwise to slightly overcook. It's early days but our positive response is corroborated by others so book up and let us know how you get on.
Pub quiz aficionados may like to know that Stoke Doyle claims to be twinned with Barcelona, which I can only assume means that the burghers of that lovely city are about as widely travelled as the average mid westerner who has never left his state. I would love to have been there when they made the choice. It was probably siesta time, the dull task of managing their great city had eaten into valuable home time and the list of candidates doubtless comprised unknown and unpronounceable names like Norwich, Edinburgh, Worcester. And then two words appeared, each comprising a single, unambiguous syllable, that added up to the mellifluous name of a metropolis in an unknown land; so Stoke Doyle passed nem con and off to bed basking in the satisfied glow of a good job well done. Telephone 01832 272339.
The Wheatsheaf, Upper Benefield is Heather and Graham's favourite. Once you have seen Heather's attitude towards customer service you will know that this has to be a super friendly establishment. It is owned by a syndicate of local farmers who supply their own meat and it shows through in the quality. Fish is, perhaps understandably, less prominent on the menu and definitely not local. Last time we visited Nile Perch and Kiwi Green Lipped Mussels were on the menu; the mussels were excellent both to taste and for the health of our joints but we didn't try the latter as I recall too many pictures of huge specimens being landed. A short wine list did the trick so do visit and let Heather know what you think. Telephone 01832 205400.
Loch Fyne Restaurant, Elton should on paper be perfect. Excellent fresh fish in a bright open setting with a branch in Cambridge that shows that they can feed you well. Sadly, almost every time we have been the service has been terrible. It could be bad luck but, by way of illustration, we have left after two hours without eating more than a bread roll. Having said that we went the other day and got a good meal in a reasonable time but the place was only a third full so it wasn't really a test. Any feedback along these lines will warrant a rethink. Telephone 01832 280298.
The Chequered Skipper
Good beer and pretty good food too. Ashton is a model village owned by the renowned naturalist Miriam Rothschild until her recent death. After the pub suffered a fire it was refurbished with an interior which to my eye slightly jars. Good, wholesome food in a thatched village green pub sounds great but the bright lights and Hoxtonesque turn-of-the-millennium decor in the eating area just doesn't fit in. I am being too critical; we had lunch there recently and it was simple but just what we wanted and the kids ran around on the green while they cooked the food. Give it a try. Home of the world conker championships. Telephone 01832 273494.
The King's Arms, Polebrook gets a lot of good feedback. We had always had this marked as a reliable place to visit with an eccentric interest in producing Spanish food. But on a recent visit the food was much better than that. It was good, really good; there were a dozen decent tapas after excellent nibbles and a couple of main courses to share. There is also a trad pub menu but it being a gastropub version of a Spanish restaurant is what makes the interest. The boccerones, chicken pinchos and fabada asturiana were excellent and not something you would expect to find in East Northants. Similarly, drinkable (just) house wine that was ordered by the quarter litre was a refreshing alternative to the usual brewer promoted list. We didn't have the paella, which used to need ordering a week in advance but now is available for groups of 6+ who can wait for it to be made if they haven't booked in advance.
Which is where the catch comes in. The service was terrible. I am sure the places where the staff have trained in Spain think nothing of walking past a customer several times as they wait at the desk before enquiring 'Are you OK?' and would see no problems with them still waiting for anything but a slice of bread an hour later. But we aren't used to it in this corner of northern Europe. After an hour, I had to find someone to plead for those of our starters that needed no cooking and later walked into the kitchen to get the bill. Four different waiting staff, all charming and willing, served us at different times giving an impression of chaos rather than a determination to provide an authentic Spanish experience. The sad thing was that they didn't seem apologetic which is a bit worrying but I am sure they will get the service sorted and The King's Arms will then be a fine restaurant. Try quoting this review and see if that does the trick and insist on sitting at a table where you can call out to a waiter in case it doesn't. Telephone 01832 272363.
The King's Head, Wadenhoe
Idyllic village pub on the river. Uncomplicated food that has recently got a mention in the 'Routier' guide. You ought book as the dining area is small. Alternatively sit in the garden on the bank of the Nene, glug a guest ale and watch the narrowboats and your willpower slip by. They even have their own 'King's Head Ale' brewed in Barnwell by Drifield Ales, a local microbrewer which is clean and hoppy and only 3.8% alcohol. Perfect for those who want to enjoy well made beer and lament the 5%, get pissed quick, offerings from the major breweries.
They are also very child friendly both in the summer when kids can run in the garden but also in wintertime when Dads have been seen enjoying a pint while the children ate a proper meal.
However, there have been several changes of management recently, some of which damaged the reputation in the kitchen. When I last went, we didn't eat but there were a lot who were and who seemed genuinely happy. What feedback we have had recently suggests that the menu may be just a little too short but what is on it is cooked plainly but well. There have been mutterings about poor service too. More feedback will be welcome. Telephone 01832 720024.
Montagu Arms, Barnwell
Personally, I find it a bit busy and the ceilings are too low for me, but the front half at least is the country pub you dream about when living overseas. There is a pub grub menu and kids attractions in the back although these have seen better days. The most important thing is that you can walk the two miles there across the fields and feel justified in having a pint. Telephone 01832 273726.
The Green Man, Leighton Bromswold
We used to go a lot. I proposed to my wife there, which probably says a lot about my meanness, but in those days the food was the best in the district. Nowadays it is the home of the young farming set with more focus on the beer and less on the food. CAMRA love the place with good reason. Telephone 01480 890239.
Oundle Mill
Reopened in 2008 after a long period of refurbishment. Locals will be confused as it used to be called Barnwell Mill but I am sure we will get used to it. When it opened, the prices were a surprise for this area; in the 'Upstairs Fine Dining' a three course meal would have set you back £150 for two including a reasonable bottle of wine and a drink beforehand. Downstairs in the bar area the food is perhaps £15-20 per head cheaper. Sadly, but not unexpectedly, demand for the more expensive restaurant hasn't materialised and all the food is served in a large open plan room with a bar at one end with a few sofas for a pre-meal drink and dining tables filling the rest of the floor. My recollection was that, on opening, the bar was aggressively lit which seemed a little incongruous but it seems to have been softened now. The other development is 'half price Wednesdays' when all food is discounted to a level that makes it a very reasonable meal although this offer won't last forever.
In an area that is desperately short of 'restaurants' as compared to pubs with food, it isn't surprising that it has won an award as a 'Best Newcomer' for the region in 2009, so we revisited recently with high hopes.
Was the meal bad? No, definitely not. But it gave a strong whiff of somewhere trying to be what it isn't. We asked if the chicken confit really was a confit and, after consulting with chef, the waiter said that it was stuffed chicken. Mention of rare breed pork on the menu resulted in the obvious question as to which breed. Once again, chef needed to be consulted. To my mind, either you have rare breed meat because you particularly like the breed you are serving or it is just a bit of Borough Market/gastropub marketing. The venison suet pudding seemed to have a very thin 'suet' which was more like a bag and calves liver, asked to be cooked pink, was horribly overdone.
In so many fields, people try too hard and let themselves down by doing so and this is a good culinary example. The food is just that little bit overcomplicated for the kitchen and the menus are unsure if they are 'Fine Dining' or gastropub.
In an earlier review, I said that they should have the courage to sell simple food, perfectly done like Hix and Henderson do. Perhaps they think that we country folk will want it a bit dolled up for this sort of money and need educating as to how people ate in London in the 1990s but I disagree. Good, local ingredients served with honest accompaniments will really do it. Devilled kidneys, venison chops, Tamworth tenderloin wrapped in properly cured local bacon are simple but glorious foods that we don't eat every day at home and which will bring confidence to a menu and a kitchen that currently lack it. Contrast that with 'Fish and Chips Our Way', which turns out to be three bits of battered cod, chips and some puréed peas. Look the punter in the eye, tell him what he is getting and just cook it well. He'll be back. To be honest, we probably won't for a while as there is better locally for less money (such as devilled kidneys and simple fish and chips for under £14 in the Shuckburgh Arms).
More reports please. Telephone 01832 272621.
Onkar, Oundle
I don t eat curry and have, therefore, never been. Those who do and have, say the food is good, but don't be in a hurry. Telephone 01832 274312.
China Town, Oundle
Good, standard stuff, but if you like Chinese, you will enjoy it. Our friends the Lambkins summed it up perfectly; they were surprised how much they enjoyed what promised to be a stereotypical neighbourhood Chinese restaurant and will return. Telephone 01832 272347.
Beans, Oundle, by the war memorial, is always filled with people enjoying fairtrade coffee, breakfast, light lunch or afternoon tea. WiFi access is useful if you have been kicked out of your cottage for trying to work but still need to get that last mail sent. Worryingly, a recent visitor saw 'real fruit smoothies' poured from a carton. Perhaps they are just within the bounds of honesty but we aren't used to adspeak in Oundle.
I am told by those who visit coffee shops regularly that Smiths at No 4 (4 North Street) is better but have also heard complaints about stale cake and poor service. They open for a gents' breakfast at 10am (9am on Saturdays) and serve meals and coffee as well as beer and a limited selection of wines throughout the day. All their food comes from Smiths of Oundle, the deli in West Street, which is a bit limited in selection but worth popping in. There is also The Coffee Tavern in the Market Square which used to be the only one and which seems a bit tired as a result but at least they collectively keep Starbucks out. The Coffee Tavern is alone in being open on Sundays and does have a sold base of fans so please don't take this as telling you not to go.
For many of us, holidays in the UK are reminiscent of childhood before we discovered the delights of flying, cheap overseas prices and exotic foreign food. But things have come full circle; we now know flying is vile, most decent places are very expensive and it transpires that everytime we travel overseas we poison the atmosphere. In the 'News' section, under 'What You Won't Get' you will see that I am not totally starry eyed about UK holidays because they can be terrible. Which brings me onto Fish and Chips. Surely I am not the only one for whom the smell of them through newspaper brings back waves of Proustian nostalgia. However, too often the reality turns out well short of expectation. There are lots of horrid chippies selling old fish fried at the wrong temperature in oil my car would spit out. But, when done properly, you can hardly beat them. And Blue Marlin in the Market Square in Oundle does them properly. There are times when curling up on the sofa watching a DVD eating them covered in vinegar with a nice bottle of white can't be bettered. If you put your foot down, the opening credits could be rolling five minutes after you leave the shop. Typical feedback is from one guilty Mum; 'Oh just delicious. I should have cooked and I didn't and we were all glad.' Telephone 01832 273527 for opening times.
Archie's, Oundle
In Crown Court, just off the market square in Oundle gets mixed reports. Open from 9am to 10pm it combines being a cafe, wine bar and restaurant. Guests have praised it but locals who have been more often sometimes report variable standards with some visits being disappointing. 01832 273336.
The George of Spaldwick
This pub served excellent food, albeit with a notably unadventurous winelist that showed no interest at all in the subject. But we were happy to recommend it and used to go pretty regularly ourselves.
However, we haven't been for a while after a bad experience on a themed 'Italian Night' when the food was poor and the hostess told us that it was unsurprising as chef didn't know much about Italian food. It wasn't a conscious decision but it was an attitude that failed to inspire confidence. Having recently heard negative feedback, I checked out the website which showed a much improved winelist but Google revealed a pretty disastrous tail-off in the quality of reviews. There was talk of a change of chef and even one who would have preferred McDonalds. Ouch. We will have to give it another look but will appreciate any feedback. Telephone 01480 890293.
The Snooty Fox, Lowick
If you want beef this is the place to go, with excellent 28 day aged beef that we like to think is nearly as good as the stuff we raise at home. You could criticise it for showing too much respect for the St John school of English retro cooking but then it would be fair to observe that Lowick is somewhat closer to the countryside than Clerkenwell. It has a Michelin Bib too.
Until recently we had heard nothing but good reports on the food as well as the winelist which even had a good selection of halves. But a neighbour did warn that a recent visit had suffered from terrible service. Nevertheless we booked a family meal in expectation of a good evening; the food was as good as normal but the service was truly awful. Every time we wanted something we had to go and find a waiter and when we finally got some wine the white was warm but stuffed into an ice bucket to make it feel cold. When I pointed this out I was told that it was 'cellar temperature'. The next day, I was asked about it by one of our guests who had been for a drink but been put off by a note in the guest book at the restaurant commenting on the good food and poor service. It's such a shame but something they should be able to get right, particularly as we still get good feedback so the problem should appears to be sporadic rather than endemic. We will revisit and report back. Telephone 01832 733434.
The Snooty Tavern, Great Staughton
This has the same owners as The Snooty Fox and a similar menu but a recent visit on a Friday evening was such a disappointment that I have to say that it should be avoided until things pick up. What had been a bustling atmosphere was lost due to lack of diners which we optimistically put down to the promise of live music later on. Does anyone want to eat to live music? But once the food arrived it was pretty clear that something had changed in the kitchen. The waitress confirmed that there was a new chef leaving my companion and I musing on the frailty of the restaurant business where one change of personnel ruins the whole place. The singer duly started and was accompanied by a few drunk local girls and, though we moved as far away as we could, we couldn't get far enough. As they say in the News of the World, we made our excuses and left.
If you like driving, the road from St Neots to Kimbolton goes by the pub. People travel hundreds of miles to try it out (I kid you not); sadly, each year some bikers return freight. Hence the road is covered in signs warning you to look out for motorbikes. The late, great John Peel, hardly a car buff, was a huge fan. A White Stripes Run, perhaps? Telephone 01480 860336.
The Crown Inn, Broughton is in the no-man's-land between Huntingdon and Cambridge and is strongly recommended by our friend Paddy who took her ladies' golf team there after a match in the area. I can't imagine a group with the potential to be more critical of a meal than lady golfers after whipping the opposition; so it must be good indeed. We will try to get there soon but welcome reports. Telephone 01487 824428
We have also had positive recommendations by guests for The Red Lion at Canons Ashby and Stapleford Park. The latter is a highly rated hotel that boasts a golf club, spa and all the other luxuries needed for urban man to enjoy a weekend in the country. The house is beautiful and, I am told, the food worth the journey into Rutland. It has a dress code which you should check out to save a wasted journey.
In the middle of Rutland water lies the Michelin starred Hambleton Hall. We won't go there because it plays to our prejudices. I send food back if an Italian sneaks a priapic pepper grinder over my shoulder and blackens the food while I am looking the other way but at Hambleton you don't get the chance to defend the plate; it comes ready peppered. For my wife, offhand staff and being put in a sideroom for lunch with her girlfriends where service was non-existent is the height of bad manners. Maybe groups of girls are bad tippers but this will be a self fulfilling prophecy with treatment like that. There are restaurants in London whose reputations are made by attracting such girls who will sip at a single glass of wine but bring a bit of life and laughter to the place. It can't always be that bad but its reputation is pepper blackened in Wigsthorpe until a guest tells us to give it another go. So far none has.
You may think that the proximity of the City of Peterborough would provide a source of good places to eat. Mark Haddon set his novel 'A Spot of Bother' in Peterborough. 'It's horrible, and not in a funny way, just a bad way' he wrote of the visit. 'I wrote the entire book without going there and then went for a night to check a few details. I stayed in a hotel. There is nothing I can say apart from: don't do that. I tried to go to a restaurant; but there are no restaurants in Peterborough.' Asked if he was worried about a backlash, he responded 'They'd be too lethargic.' These are not my views so, if he is wrong in the last remark, please address your protests to Haddon's publishers.
However, if you like curry, I do have a recommendation. I haven't been there myself as I don't eat the stuff but Yetis, an Indian and Nepalese restaurant, is apparently the best on offer. Good food and ambience, excellent service and a bill of £40 for two including drink make it well worth the trip with the further attraction of special deals on Mondays. However, it is on Broadway near a string of clubs and bars that become pretty unpleasant after 9pm so an early visit is recommended. Telephone 01733 343888.
I also quiz the cab drivers at Peterborough station on the rare occasions when a glass of wine after work has given me the opportunity to ask them where they like to eat as they drive me home. More than most, Mirpur Balti House gets mentioned favourably. I am told that you should ask the staff for a 'traditional meal' like they would eat at home rather than choose from a menu largely aimed at a clientele who are used to a more anglicised menu. Do send in feedback as this is the sort of place that curry aficionados are looking out for. Telephone 01733 343545.
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