Packhorse Inn, Little Longstone
THANK goodness the 17th century Packhorse Inn at Little Longstone, on the way to Monsal Head, isn't in Sheffield because the council would whip away its A-boards smartish.
But they help it set out its stall to thirsty and hungry travellers in these parts.
'Beer from Ashford, Lager from Taddington, Smoked Food from Flagg, Cheese from across the area, Wild Boar (coming soon) from local woods, Dry Goods from Tideswell,' says one.
Then it sums it all up: 'A real Derbyshire pub, making the most of the county's larder.'
Another sign promises not to get too sniffy about custom: 'Muddy boots, kids and dogs welcome.'
It all sounds good stuff. We could do with more of this. The pub was taken over last year by local millionaire Jim Harrison of Thornbridge Hall, Thornbridge Brewery and the ever-growing BrewKitchen chain.
The Packhorse has always been a favourite of ours when we're in the area but the food offering has waxed and waned over the last 20 years.
It once did rather nice pies rather spoiled by instant gravy (I watched the landlady heat the kettle in the kitchen) but more recently landlord Dave Cooper, asked to stay on by Jim, offers a decent selection.
The pub lay-out seems to have changed a bit since our last visit – you enter almost immediately into a bar and there are two tiny dining rooms either end and open fires. The floors are either flagstoned or carpeted and it looks like a pub should although I suspect the stuff on the windowsill near us, a collection of fishing floats, might have been bought in to add atmosphere. There's also a beer garden which is deserted despite the sunshine.
Thornbridge Brewery's Lord Marples and White Swan, along with Black Sheep, are on tap as well as Moravka lager from the nearby Taddington Brewery. I order a glass – it's the nearest I've got so far to brewery boss Richard Hand who is notoriously publicity shy.
Our names are on a slip of paper on a scrubbed table in one of the rooms – it's best to book for Sunday lunch – and after consulting the blackboard menu you order back in the bar.
There are spare ribs and a pint of prawns for starters, garlic and rosemary lamb steaks, lemon and garlic roast chicken, roast pork belly, a ploughmans and moules marinieres for mains as well as a range of proper sandwiches.
We start with leek and potato soup (4), which has a very good base, properly seasoned with plenty of texture and almost a meal in itself, served with a hunk of good brown bread. My wife has the smoked mushroom pat (4) which we presumed came from Flagg. Smashing.
On Sundays the Packhorse does one roast, for 8. It's beef – still pink and juicy at 1.30pm – served plated with a couple of Yorkshire puds, roast potatoes and root vegetables, green beans and spiced red cabbage. The gravy's a big improvement on Bisto.
My wife, though, is a little less than happy with her goats cheese and red onion marmalade tart (8). It's just a flaky pastry disc with some onion marmedale and a briefly grilled slice of cheese on top. And lashings of salad with apple, beetroot and walnut.
"I keep eating but I'm not getting through this salad," she says.
Tables are squeezed into the rooms and one party of four keeps switching between them because it has only three good chairs – an earlier party which booked as four but became five has pinched it.
They take the chair in the corner but it's broken.
The Bakewell tart has run out but there's a bread and butter pudding served with a jug of cream. It needs it because there's not enough custard inside the pud which makes it heavy, more like a bread pudding.
My wife's chocolate fudge brownie, however, is well worth ordering, rich and goey. "And I've got more walnuts. They're good for you, aren't they?" she says. Both are 3.50.
It's not been a bad meal. The beer is good – the White Swan is a very refreshing pale ale – and the Packhorse is a friendly place with bags of atmosphere. The menu needs to be a little more countrified, however. How about some rabbit or game?
As we leave, happy to have paid a bill of 31 for a three- course lunch for two, I tell the man at the next table to whip my chair quick. He had the broken one.
Packhorse Inn
Little Longstone.
Telephone: 01629 640 471.
Open for food Mon 6-9pm, Tues-Sat 12-3pm and 6-9pm, Sun 12-3pm and 6-8pm. Credit cards.
Roadside parking.
My Sunday lunch rating (out of five): SSSS
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Friday 10 February 2012
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