The Newcastle Journal - Friday September 14 2001

Countryside offers up a real treat

It's possible to help rural tourism fight the effects of foot-and-mouth and have a good evening out, as Brian Nicholls discovered.

It did occur to us that if townies ate at weekends in restaurants stricken financially by foot-and-mouth, we would at least be committing our mite of support against the scourge.

We made for Wooler, on the picturesque A697, and the leafy-walled Tankervffle Arms Hotel, a family owned coaching inn midway between Newcastle and Edinburgh that has served travellers since the 17th Century and looks determined not to give up now. You dine there in the Cheviot Restaurant or the Chillingham Bistro adjoining the Copper Bar, and either way you can also - weather permitting - enjoy your aperitif in the garden.

We made for the bar first. That's the excuse. Actually, the real ales drew us. Being a Partick Thistle fan - some say cruelly the only Partick Thistle fan - I was especially attracted to the pump emblazoned with a red and yellow shield.
But, hereabouts, I should have recognised it for what it was, the Duke of Northumberland's own colours, in this case an invitation also to sample a superb Northumberland Ale brewed in nearby Berwick.

Anne Park, whose running of the hotel contributes a lot to the warmth of its welcome, took our order and introduced us to a wine list looking as widely travelled as she herself has been in her earlier career as an air stewardess. We chose a Chablis by Ropiteau Brothers which was almost the most expensive on the card at £16.95 but worth every penny for its crispness brought out by its repose in the ice bucket alongside our table. Also we noted immediately the flasks of gratis water on each table, the basic so many other restaurants wilfully or otherwise overlook.

A reason to eat at the Tankerville, let it be said, is that local ingredients get preference wherever possible: flesh from farms around the hotel and fish from the Craster-Berwick stretch save (presumably) for the Norwegian prawns. All preparations are in chef Ashley Fiddes's talented hands. For starters, from a range priced £2.25-£5.95 he prepared us smoked chicken on a bed of mixed leaf and bacon salad, with tarragon dressing, and a duck and pork pate.

These were from alternatives of a prawn platter, hot smoked salmon, melon and sorbet and soup. Starters also included a £10.95 speciality for two, a platter of dipswith brie, goujons of plaice, potato skins and calamari. We felt we had made the right choice for us. The chicken was tender, the pate acceptable.

Main courses - choice of 12- featured steaks prominently, including Diane and Rossini versions at £14.95. For vegetarians, the alternative of vegetable stir fry or wild mushrooms on cous cons with a garlic cream sauce - were £8.95.
For fish enthusiasts there was again an £8.95 choice of pan-fried salmon or Lindisfarne salad, comprising the Norwegian prawns wrapped this time in smoked salmon with Marie Rose sauce and a salad.

Otherwise, it was Jamaican chicken or loin of Northumberland lamb at £8.95 and £9.95 respectively. No place like home, so on with the lamb: sliced, grilled, stuffed with breadcrumbs and verily plentiful.
It was succulent, with enough of a flavoursome border of fat to show the beast had been well tended, and nicely neutralised by a redcurrant and rosemary sauce.

As for my charming companion's combination with sharp tarragon and toasted pine nuts which, she said, worked well. Vegetables accompanying, conventional but copious and fresh, had retained their goodness in the cooking.
Seven sweets were the next option, all at £3.75. Raspberry sherry trifle, citrus cornflake crunch, profiteroles with hot chocolate, or sticky toffee pudding? No, we went for New York Sundae, a blend of coffee ice cream and maple syrup topped with whipped cream (not the tasteless aerosol concoction) won the battle with the hot black cherries and vanilla ice-cream, and the locally made Doddington ice cream as the other choice made a perfect finish.

Numerous touches left an impression: coffee in a cafetiere instead of just a miserly cup, tea served with a pot of hot water, perfection in the melba toast invariably easier to pronounce than to prepare. And, of course, the friendliness of the staff, conversational yet never intrusive.
The plainly but suitably furnished dining room is spacious and gives pleasant views of the countryside.

If Wooler is a longer drive than you would normally take to dinner, consider making it endpiece of a day there. There is so much history and beauty to take in.
As for us, we heard whisper that Craster kippers were on the breakfast menu. So we just stayed there too.