The Clarendon Inn, Hebden: Inside the Yorkshire Dales pub that sources 80 per cent of its menu from the village

Over 300 years later, The Clarendon’s current owner is returning to its roots and has now reached the milestone of 80 per cent of ingredients supplied from within three miles of the village. The fish farm he buys trout from is visible from the window and the farmer who sells him meat pops in for a Friday night pint.

Lionel Strub, a Frenchman originally from Alsace-Lorraine who has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants, first took on the freehold of The Clarendon in 2015, after a period in which it had been vacant and become rundown. Such a blank canvas appealed to his vision of returning to the lost tradition of dining on seasonal produce only.

Eight years later, The Clarendon is thriving again, and now has six guest rooms. It has won national awards for the quality of the game on its menus – a local shoot has been based at the pub since 1801 – but as Mr Strub is keen to point out, there is a lot more to The Clarendon than partridge, pheasant, grouse and mallard.

"Game is only in season for three or four months of the year, so it’s actually only a small part of what we do as a pub. When we took it over, it was a tatty old place, but that was ideal for us as we had complete freedom to turn it around. I wanted to not only source my produce from Yorkshire, but where possible, from within the village of Hebden.”

Trout farmer Johnny Jowett, who often plays the piano in the pub, was an early supplier, and estates at Grimwith and Coniston provide venison and birds.

For vegetables, fruit and herbs, the picture painted is even more bucolic and evocative of a vanishing world of local sustainability. Villagers with orchards pass on their apples and pears and are rewarded with jams and chutneys in return, and wild garlic, berries, elderflower and more are foraged from the hedgerows.

"I want to set an example for a rural pub. There is an amazing array of produce in this area and we want to survive on what is around us and reduce our carbon footprint.”

At first worried at how customers would react to the restrictions of seasonal eating, Mr Strub has been pleasantly surprised.

"Customers know that some times it will be cabbage, other times pears and apples. I thought it was taking a bit of a risk initially, but people have got the message now and they really enjoy it. We forage for watercress and nettles – economically it makes more sense, it’s free stuff! We make elderflower cordial, gin and fools for dessert. We are working with nature.”

The furthest Mr Strub’s net is cast is towards Skipton, where his suppliers of potatoes and goat’s cheese are based. The village allotment holders donate their vegetables in a kind of local barter economy.

"It is not easy, and finding suppliers it harder to achieve than just getting a delivery from a butcher. We put people’s names on the menus, and they are proud of that association. On Friday, people having dinner can see the farmer having a pint with his tractor parked outside. They get to meet him and it puts them in touch with where their food comes from.

"Three hundred years, ago they wouldn’t have been serving strawberries all year round. Back then things were seasonal, and I want to restore that to the pub. Locals support us, and with our guest rooms people come from all over the UK and the world to visit.”

Mr Strub admits there is a ceiling – he believes it is not feasible for him to source 100 per cent of the supplies he needs from Hebden, bountiful though it may be.

"It’s virtually impossible, as we use more than people can produce. But I will keep searching and keep asking. There is some disused land opposite and I would love to have our own vegetable garden. I will never say never!”