Food yards make great crepes in Hepworth

Crepes are now a regular monthly Saturday afternoon feature at this timber-beamed, atmospheric hostelry in the village of Hepworth near Holmfirth, that Mark and partner Caroline Kimber took over nearly two years ago and where French influenced cuisine has become a speciality.

It’s all down to where Mark discovered his passion and where he lived for several years, but he’s also acutely aware of the role that fresh produce from local farmers plays in whatever he cooks.

“We’re nothing without our local producers from around here and our supply of fresh free range eggs comes direct from Shaun Heap’s Flower Fields Farm at Hade Edge, where we also get all of our meat. His father and brothers also supply duck.

“It’s not just about the produce though, it’s as much about the people who are responsible for it and we’re delighted to be able to let our customers know where it comes from and hopefully our suppliers benefit further.

“Shaun is a butcher as well as a farmer and that makes for a very short food chain. It’s more like food yards than food miles.”

Cooking, whether French or otherwise, wasn’t on Mark’s horizon when he was 19. It was wanderlust that ignited his culinary flame and took him to Australia, the US, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Holland.

“I couldn’t fry an egg when I left school. After I’d finished my A-levels, I hitch-hiked to the south of France and started selling sandwiches on the beach ending up getting a job in a beach bar.

“I started cooking when I went to the Alps and worked in a restaurant that sold crepes. I’ve never studied for a chef’s qualification. I’ve just picked up everything as I’ve gone along.

“When you’re in France you work and eat with the families and you get to know about food and how to cook. There wasn’t much choice in the UK in the early 80s when we had hardly any restaurants, but I went down there and it was fantastic. My studying was Provencale dishes and St Emilion wine.”

Caroline has worked in restaurants wherever she has lived, including Northumberland where she grew up, Salford where she studied, Wiltshire and nearby Jackson Bridge. When she and Mark got together five years ago it wasn’t long before they were trying pop-up restaurants in the village hall.

The Butchers Arms had been closed for nine months and friends had already pointed out that Caroline’s front of house experience and Mark’s skills as a chef could bring about a change in fortune for the village’s historic pub.

Two years in and they’ve struck a balance between pub and restaurant, one that locals and those coming from further afield enjoy. Crepe Night this week, on Tuesday, is set to be a sell-out.

“We have a bar menu with British favourites but we’re predominantly French based cuisine. We started our Crepes Evening last year on Shrove Tuesday, which we prefer to call it by its French name Mardi Gras, which means Fat Tuesday.

“We purchased two fabulous crepe machines. Crepes need to be nice and thin, really flat.

“We serve two types, a savoury using beer and buckwheat flour and a sweet using milk and vanilla.

“You pick your fillings from cheese, tomato, egg, sweetcorn, ham and spinach and it’s an absolute meal. The sweet one can have sugar and lemon or banana, seasonal fruit and Nutella is a favourite.”

Crepe nights and Crepe Saturday afternoons, Thai banquets and Meet the Brewer nights are just some of the events that Mark and Caroline hope will encourage visitors, along with The Butchers’ spread of Yorkshire beers and fine wines.

“We need to attract from outside the village, but we also get great support from the community. They know it’s a case of use it or lose it.

“We want to carry on championing local produce such as cream and butter from Longley Farm.”

It seems that a combination of local produce, local people and French flavour is working.