Sunday Lunch Campaign Update!

A huge thank you to everyone that has nominated so far in our Campaign to find the best Sunday Lunch in Northumberland. Up until now over 100 places have received at least one nomination by a member of the public and some places are well over the thirty mark! There are a few leading contenders for the shortlist at the moment where people speak so passionately about why they have nominated them.

The nomination process will run until Sunday 30th October. After that we will spend a lot of time reading each and every nomination and decide on a shortlist of places for us to visit. We will not only take into account the sheer number of nominations, but also what people say about each place. Do they source their food locally? Is the service excellent? What about the location? We're looking for the places that really go the extra mile to make a meal wonderful and it's going to be an incredibly tough job deciding. During November we will visit and enjoy a Sunday Lunch at each of the shortlisted places, I'll be blogging about each one and then announcing the winner towards the end of November!

There's still plenty of time to nominate, so make you sure you do (and pass it on to your friends! The more nominations we receive the better).

Once too often? Causeway Rescue Episode 361

Yet another couple have become stranded on the crossing to Holy Island as the tide rose and overcame their car. A man and a woman were rescued from one of the refuge boxes by Seahouses Lifeboat and were brought to shore. It's yet another case of people thinking that the warning signs and published safe crossing times simply don't apply to them.

It costs the Lifeboat (which is a registered charity and publicly funded) thousands of pounds each time someone ignores the warnings and gets stranded. A meeting was held in August to discuss ways in which this kind of incidents can be stopped, but as of yet there doesn't appear to be a plan that everyone can agree upon. One thing is for sure, there needs to be some kind of solution found, be it barriers (which the local residents of the island vehemently oppose) or some kind of light warning system. I have to admit that I don't necessarily understand fully the argument against installing some kind of barrier system. From what I understand the local opposition is based around the need for emergency service access at 'risk times' before the causeway is completely flooded and for those residents who understand the tides more fully than visitors. While I agree this could be an issue, with today's technology the emergency services could surely have an over-ride system like the retractable bollards that Fire Engines can activate - a similar system clearly already exists. As for the residents who think that they understand the tide and can take risks, I would argue that they should be discouraged from doing this at all! I fail to see why the Seahouses Lifeboat station should bare the financial brunt for at best people's ignorance or arrogance against the power of the tide, and at worst their plain stupidity.

The Seahouses Lifeboat are constantly fund raising and are currently looking for volunteer all weather and inshore Lifeboat crew. I wonder how many of the rescued show their gratitude by helping to raise funds to cover the cost of their rescue?

Visit the Seahouses Lifeboat Website for more information about the incredible work they do on a daily basis. You can read the BBC news article about the incident here.

New Area Guide: Corbridge

Corbridge is a beautiful little Roman town on the banks of the River Tyne. It has an interesting history and has been famous for it's wonderful shopping since Victorian times! The Area Guide for Corbridge is now complete and includes travel information, attractions and things to do (Aydon Castle, Corbridge Roman Town, Walking, Golf, Cycling), where to eat and drink and the town's amenities. Have a read of the Guide over on the Your Northumberland Guide website.

Review: The Granby Inn, Longframlington

It was a Thursday evening around 6.30pm when I arrived with my dining partner to the Granby in Longframlington. Although it's on the main road through the Village they have managed to shoe-horn some off street parking in at the front and we were given a very warm welcome by the two ladies behind the bar. It seemed to be a quiet night with just one other couple eating in the bar area, we were offered the choice of a table in the restaurant or in the bar. We decided to eat in the bar, not just because it seemed nice and comfortable, but partly I don't think either of us wanted to be sat alone in a restaurant. To begin with the atmosphere was a little like a library, I almost didn't dare speak for fear of being shushed, there was very quiet music on in the background, but the ambience still felt a little flat. I needn't have worried though as by the time we'd got our drinks delivered to the table a few more couples had arrived along with a group of Australian tourists who soon livened the place up!

The bar area is clean and comfortable, with the decor you would expect from a 'Country style' pub, plenty of odd things on the walls, dark wood furniture and heavy chairs that could well have been there for decades. Nothing looked worn, or ageing though, they obviously look after the place very well. We were given the menus and were told about the specials board, but we both opted for the set menu which was 3 courses for £16.95. The choice from the set menu was limited, which is to be expected, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had a genuine choice to make between dishes. I opted for the Potato Skins to start and my dining partner ordered melon with parma ham. Both dishes arrived promptly and were presented well. The Potato Skins were just that, skins. Often you find that you order potato skins these days and you end up with half a small jacket potato with some cheese on! But not in this case, they were piping hot, delicious, served with two dips and plentiful! While we were waiting for our main I saw a sizzling dish delivered to one of the tables nearby and instantly from the smell wished I had ordered that instead of my pie, it looked great! However, after realising the dish was only on the specials board and cost £12 on it's own I soon felt better about my choice!

My main course was Steak and Ale Pie, and apart from my usual disappointment (I stand by the fact that a pie should have pastry sides and a bottom!) it was a very tender, well seasoned, Beef in Ale casserole with a pastry lid floating on top. It came with slow cooked red onions and apple, and a side of fresh vegetables and a little basket of chips. I have to admit I was surprised and impressed with the presentation of the main, I especially liked the little frying baskets the chips were served in. The only other place I have seen this done is in a Michelin starred restaurant!

The gravy with the pie was the best part of this course, extremely tasty with a good strong hint of ale. The only let down (other than it not strictly speaking being a pie) was the braised cabbage. Despite being braised for a long time it somehow managed to still be quite hard and almost caramelised, with a hint of burnt sugar taste. This didn't detract from the overall enjoyment though as there were plenty of other fresh vegetables that were cooked just right. My dining partner had a steak for her main course, which was thoroughly enjoyed.

After devouring what felt like half a sack of potato skins for starter and a very generous portion of Beef Casserole (couldn't resist) for my main, I was scouring the desert menu for something light to finish off the meal. The cheesecake caught my eye, but after asking what flavour it was today (rum and raisin) we both decided to go for the Panna cotta.

This was the only real let down with the meal, it looked lovely, well presented and served with home-made chilli and chocolate icecream, but it was over-set. There had been far too much gelatine used in the setting process and it was almost a hard jelly consistency, not the light, beautiful, creamy desert I was hoping for. I did enjoy the icecream though, with just enough of a hint of chilli.

Service remained polite, efficient and discrete, which is exactly as it should be and the total bill for two including one drink each came to around £45.

Highlight: Real potato skins and fresh delicious vegetables.

Lowlight: An over-set Panna cotta.

The Granby's Scores

Venue: ***1/2

Ambience: ***

Service: ****

Presentation: ****

Taste: ***1/2

Value for Money: ***

Overall Score: Would I recommend the Granby? Overall yes I would. Friendly and efficient staff in a nice Village location with surprisingly smart food presentation and good flavours. I give them an overall rating of ***1/2 out of ***** somewhere between Good and Excellent.

My scoring system explained:

***** Outstanding **** Excellent *** Good ** Average * Poor

Not much going on around here...

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I've been in the middle of moving house for the last couple of weeks. Anyone who has done it recently will no doubt have great sympathy! It's taken what seems like an age to do something as simple as set up an internet connection (thanks for being so incompetent Sky!) but I think I'm now back up and running! Expect some news and new Guides soon.

The Restaurant Guide

I've been getting a lot of requests from businesses recently asking for me to review their Cafe, Restaurant or Pub. This increasing level of interest in the site is absolutely great and I welcome anyone that takes the time to read the site to contact me, feedback is vital. As a 'foodie' visiting restaurants and sampling beautiful food is a real hardship as you can imagine, but somebody has to do it! What is this blog post about you're asking? Well I am getting to the point, I promise. I wanted to clarify how I do reviews and what my policy is for including places to eat. I want the site to be seen as a personal recommendation from somebody who knows the area well and knows a good meal when he sees one.

Every restaurant, cafe, pub, hotel, B&B, self catering apartment or business that is related to tourism is welcome to be listed on the site and if I've missed you then let me know! I'll sort it out as soon as I can. I won't ever slate somewhere, won't criticise and harm a business just for the sake of it, that goes against everything I stand for. But on the same level, I only want to highlight places that I really like and would feel confident that somebody going there on my recommendation wouldn't be disappointed. I have started a list of places that have invited me to visit them and I will do my best to get round to them as quickly as I can. I would also like to point out that when I do visit somewhere for a meal it is done without the proprietor knowing in advance. I think I should experience a meal exactly the same way any other customer would, otherwise what would be the point? Impartiality and trust is the key.

Unfortunately life and work gets in the way of doing the things I'd really like to spend my time on, but I'll get round to as many places as is humanly possible. I hope that helps to clarify how I go about my 'reviews', it's more of a recommendation service really. Visit the Eat and Drink section of Your Northumberland Guide's website for more information.

Photo Competition

Your Northumberland Guide is holding it's first Photo Competition. The theme is 'Summer', not that we have had a great deal of it, but interpret the theme how you will! To enter, all you have to do is head over to our Facebook Page, 'like' it and then post your photo entry on to the wall. At the time of writing there are already almost 40 entries and some absolutely beautiful shots, head over and have a look. There will be a prize for the winning shot and it will be showcased on the Your Northumberland Guide homepage, so plenty of glory! You have until the 31st August to enter, so get busy!