Mastering the menu
Having worked the stoves at several of Mark Hix’s London restaurants – notably Hix Soho – Aussie chef Simon Hicks escaped the city to set up the kitchen at the Lord Crewe, and hasn’t looked back. His food is robust modern British fare and he is relishing the rural location, taking full advantage of locally bagged game, top-quality meats and foraged ingredients – as well as pickings from the kitchen garden and the output of a smokehouse in one of the inn’s outbuildings. Daily menus are driven by the seasons and peppered with meaty cuts – hocks, shins, shanks, steaks and the like. Typically, expect to find venison salami, braised oxtail, lamb chops and delicious sharing platters (whole roasted Goosnargh duck) on winter’s evening. If you’re lucky, there may be a joint spit-roasting or a pot of stew bubbling away over the fire in the Hilyard Room. Indulgent, desserts hark back to the good old days, perhaps vanilla rice pudding or elderflower jelly with gooseberry ice cream.
On the menu
Braised oxtail with Willie’s crispy pease pudding £6.95
Lincolnshire onion tart, poached egg and fried chicken livers £6.75
Roast cod, braised lentils, vegetables and ham £15.25
Char-grilled venison, sweet-and-sour beetroot and ‘neep’ croquettes £15.45
Forced rhubarb and custard tart £5.25
Sunday Roasts
Lunch revolves around a sharing platter of three roasts, all served with Yorkshire puddings, vegetables, cauliflower cheese and spring greens - roast rump of Castle Bank beef; roast Swailbrick Farm chicken; roast collar of Yorkshire pork (2 courses £18; 3 courses £24)
Foodie Extras
Picnic hampers, shooting baskets and walkers’ lunches (12 hours’ notice required). Full shooting lunches are also catered for
Time to Eat
Breakfast: 7.30am - 9.30am
Lunch: 12 noon - 2.30pm (3pm Saturday & Sunday)
Dinner: 6pm - 9pm (6.30pm - 9pm Sunday)
Local, local, local
Home-grown vegetables from the kitchen garden and greenhouse
Home-smoked bacon, salmon and sardines from smokehouse hidden in garden outbuildings
Venison and seasonal game from the estate shoots
Real ale – Wylam Brewery, Heddon-on-the-Wall (www.wylambrewery.co.uk)
Behind the bar
The medieval vaulted Crypt, sculpted by thick stone walls and lit by candles, is a really cosy and atmospheric place to enjoy a pre-dinner drink or nibble on some ‘bait bites’ (ie snacks). Very much the village rallying point, it often buzzes with locals bantering and supping Northumbrian ales – perhaps Wylam Red Kite or the Lord Crewe Brew (a traditional golden ale produced for the inn by Wylam). There are ‘garden cocktails’ too, plus a good range of gins and whiskies for spirit fans. Wine buffs have a choice of 14 by the glass from a decent list that includes an interesting ‘French and Serious’ selection – namely fine vintage Bordeaux that have been aged in the cellars at the company’s flagship, Calcot Manor in Gloucestershire.
Bar snacks
Duck egg with spiced buttered shrimps on toast
Jim’s grilled beef burger
Smoked haddock croquettes
Haggis ‘n’ neeps
Reggie’s duck bun
Time at the bar
11am - 11pm