Pub Of The Week: The Pack Horse Inn, Widdop

This is one of those places you fantasise about half way round your walk; wouldn’t it be great if we stumbled on an old whitewashed pub with roaring fires and a plate full of hearty food?

Pennine Way walkers and Mary Townley Loop horse riders have been making a pit stop at the Pack Horse for years, but you don’t have to be a long-distance enthusiast to enjoy the delights that this 17th century former laithe farmhouse has to offer.

Firstly, it’s gloriously remote. On a good day, sit outside in the cobbled yard and take in the stunning moorland vistas. Inside, ancient stone-flagged floors, beams and those roaring fires greet you like an old friend. The walls are hung with fascinating photos and technical drawings of the building of the nearby reservoirs and railway (dismantled 1n 1912, but you can see the remains of the bridges if you walk up the beautiful Blakedean valley).

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There are several well-kept beers on tap including Copper Dragon and Thwaites, and if you’re in a certain frame of mind, choose a single malt or two from a collection of over 140. That’ll be some stagger home.

The kitchen turns out honest food; the divine smell of roast lamb and mint sauce on Sunday lunchtimes is almost too much. The menu’s chock-full with pub standards; home made steak and ale pie, hotpot, gammon & eggs – all terrific value, especially when you consider you won’t have to eat for the rest of the day. Go with an appetite – these are Yorkshire portions!

Widdop Road, Widdop, Hebden Bridge HX7 7AT: 01422 842803. www.thepackhorse.org

THE VERDICT

Welcome****

Drinks selection*****

Atmosphere*****

Food****

Prices*****

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