The Blue Lion, East Witton - North Yorkshire
The Blue Lion, East Witton, situated on the Masham to Leyburn road in North Yorkshire has a reputation as offering some of the finest pub food in the Britain, so it was great delight, that we got the opportunity not only to dine there but also to stay in one of their magnificent en-suite rooms. Dating back to the eighteenth century, the Blue Lion, East Witton, was a former coaching house on the cusp of Wensleydale and now boasts a total of fifteen rooms for accommodation all with en-suite thanks to a very tasteful extension at the back of the pub in the courtyard added a couple of years ago and a converted annex to compliment the rooms in the main pub itself.
The 'large double' room we were staying in (room 7) was very warm, well-equipped with a nice touch to detail such as tea and coffee making facilities that included a cafetiere and a sachet of Kenyan ground coffee. The other nice thing about this room was that it was self-contained and had an entrance porch which was perfect for leaving muddy walking boots and coats.
The room also had a combined flat screen tv and dvd player and the bed was extremely comfortable with lovely soft cotton sheets. The en-suite bath and shower room was very tastefully decorated, very clean and there was an ample supply of "The White Room Company" shampoo, shower gel and hand moisturiser. Add to this a large heated towel rail that heated the whole room, excellent shower facilities and you have a very high standard of accommodation that was very well priced at £109 per night including breakfast.
The Blue Lion itself is a wonderfully charming pub with a huge welcoming fireplace and bar area with further eating space in a secondary bar. Add to this two large dining rooms and you have plenty of space to entertain guests no matter how large your party. One the evening we were dining two parties had booked the dining rooms but in all honesty the atmosphere in the bar area with candlelit tables would satisfy the most romantic of diners and that's before we've started talking about the food. The Blue Lion, East Witton, has won several national awards for the standard of its cuisine and there was a vast selection of food to choose from ranging in price from £11-£26 for a main course.
On this particular evening smoked haddock fish cakes and roast parsnip with cumin soup were chosen as starters. The soup was lovely and creamy and came with croutons to compliment the selection of fresh bread and melba toast that was on the table. The fish cakes were also delicious as was the home-made tartar sauce that it came with in which you could really taste the capers.
For the main courses, crispy pork belly with black pudding and apple sauce was ordered as well as a free-range chicken and tarragon dish on crushed new potatoes. Both were absolutely first class especially the pork with the wonderful mix of apple sauce and black pudding that worked so well. An excellent bottle of Italian Pinot Grigio was ordered to compliment the meal and at £21.95 a bottle was not overpriced. The food was extremely rich and there was just about enough room to sample a dessert. Both the cheese and dessert menus were first class and the selection of three local cheeses and a raspberry sorbet finished off the meal in style.
To sum up, the Blue Lion, East Witton, offers some of the finest cuisine and accommodation in Yorkshire and will not disappoint in any way. The breakfast by the way the following morning was also fantastic and I have to say the poached eggs were some of the best I have tasted. If you ever get the chance to visit the Yorkshire Dales, then you must sample what the Blue Lion, East Witton, has to offer.
Five Stars.
This entry was posted on Saturday January 24th, 2009 at 6:00 PM and is filed under Places to Stay, Places to Eat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.
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