Now, that's nicer than whale fat houses. There are walks and reservoirs just off the A59 which dissect the community, carrying stacks of traffic between Harrogate/Ripon and Skipton/Ilkley.

Wood Nook Farm inn is on the byroad to Greenhow and was once a long-established producer of York Ham. That business closed and the late Peter Mackenzie set up a salmon smokery.

Mr Mackenzie had started the business in the basement of Emilios, a Harrogate restaurant operated by his son-in-law. He won a tasting held at Fortnum & Mason and moved to Wood Nook Farm to comply with the contract winging its way from F&M. After he died, the business was sold and in 1997 Robert and Stella Crowson took over. They now smoke just about anything edible and have won prestigious awards.

The shop has smoked Wensleydale cheese (an unappealing beige colour), smoked meats, fish and traditional dry cured ham and bacon among an enticing selection of general food and drink. They also do mail order and this year added a café restaurant, which runs from breakfast through lunch to afternoon tea. The building is modern, set in a large car park with a well-known Bradford shirt maker and a quality butcher on site.

No surprise that smoked food is strong on the menu. Make your own mind up about health scares over smoked edibles. The starters included paté of smoked trout, warm potted oak roast salmon, and a plate of smoked salmon with shallots, capers and smoked prawns. There was also wild mushroom risotto, prawn tempura with oriental salad and artichoke salad with Serrano ham, peas and white beans. The risotto and the smoked salmon platter are offered as main courses. Soup this day was minestrone, featuring ham hock, various vegetables including new peas and young broad beans but, most unusually, no pasta, which would have helped the texture of the stock. Prices: from £4.50 for the soup with excellent bread, to £6.95 for the tempura prawns. Main courses have the chef's take on the French bar classic croque monsieur, in which smoked salmon replaces the ham.
There is roast salmon with new potatoes, green beans; smoked chicken with melon and avocado salad; chilli con carne, a grilled beef sirloin sandwich, a beef burger and so on. Sadly, the specials menu was not brought to our attention, otherwise the starter of asparagus, smoked salmon, poached egg and Hollandaise would have been chosen instead of the potted salmon, which is naturally rather dry and crumbly without a binder like butter.

Equally, the special main course of poached salmon, little gem lettuce, tomato, avocado and a free range soft boiled egg would have been preferred to the smoked haddock fishcakes.

These were hockey ball sized, in a crispy shell outside the mildly spiced paste which embraced the fish and peas. They were served with a bowl of yoghurt, cucumber and mint and a selection of dressed green leaves. It was all nicely cooked and presented, but I kept envying the salmon special on the next table.

The dining room is alongside the shop, brightly furnished, flanked by a tall fir hedge but with long distance views through the front window. The kitchen hatch is at the other end, through which you may watch the food preparation.

This is home-made with no short cuts, which could explain the slow delivery via the single, charming young waitress.

The menu does warn of delays at very busy times. Fortunately, there was fill-in entertainment from the gentleman on the next table who barely drew breath and I now have a resume of his life, from early girlfriends to fly-fishing and his professional career and even holiday plans this summer. Main course prices are okay, from £9 to £11. The risotto was excellent in bite and flavour, let down by some chewy oyster mushrooms.

There are sandwiches including grilled Med veg with feta and fresh pesto. Check out also the breakfast if you are passing. The Yorkshire breakfast of home-cured bacon, sausage, black pudding, mushrooms, tomato, grilled ciabatta and local eggs should set you up for a day on the trout stream.

Afters are available if you are still hungry: rice pudding with plum compote, knickerbocker glory and so on, all at £5.95.

The restaurant is licensed and serves organic and other juices, Italian hot chocolate, plus bottled water at three times the price of petrol.

Verdict: Good atmosphere and worth a detour. Reckon on £20 plus for a three course lunch, or a tenner for breakfast. Watch out for the seasonal food lunches which must be booked in advance and when the restaurant is closed to general diners.

The next date is early August.

Mackenzies Yorkshire Smokehouse, Units 1-6, Wood Nook Farm, Hardisty Hill, Blubberhouses LS21 2PQ. Restaurant open 10am to 4.30pm Monday to Saturday: telephone 01943 810000 and fax 01943 880633. Wheelchair access. Email: info@yorkshiresmokehouse.co.uk