The real Northern powerhouse
WHETHER it’s the scenery or the food, Lancashire is Yorkshire for connoisseurs, according to locals. At Northcote, it’s been finessed with proper Northern graft.
Situated at the start of the Ribble Valley, Northcote is surrounded by shooting estates (the hotel has its own gun room). You’ll get a book of walks when you arrive, with suggestions including Clitheroe, one of Lancashire’s foodie hubs, and Pendle Hill.
When I look outside the window, I see a flash of white. It’s a chef foraging for ingredients from a kitchen garden that’s gradually taking over the grounds, providing everything from yellow raspberries to edible flowers.
Executive chef Lisa GoodwinAllen, 37, presides over the kitchen’s Michelin star. A few years ago, as part of an expansion, she got a new high-tech kitchen and now has a team of 25 chefs. Northcote is a nurturing hotel – there is an apprentice programme and most staff are local. It has also been nurturing suppliers since the 1980s, but it doesn’t feel earnest. Every hotel likes to describe itself as a family, but Northcote actually seems to be.
It’s not a hotel that tries to be all things to all people. Above all, though, it would like you to come with a really good appetite.
The cocktail bar here is buzzy, with white leather chairs and a proper night-out feel. It’s not stuffy either.
In the restaurant, there’s a plantbased menu alongside one full of autumnal gaminess. In summer you can have afternoon tea in the kitchen garden; in winter it’s next to the fire. Children are welcome.
USP: A powerhouse of food in the North West. To hammer home the message, there’s even a 15-day festival each January called Obsession that brings in top chefs from across the world. The rooms: There are 46, split between the original Victorian building and the Garden Lodge, built four years ago. Most have balconies or patio gardens. The food: A six-course tasting menu costs £85pp and takes you from coast to moorland: dishes include scallops served with chervil, partridge with mushroom and sweetcorn, and a flavour of Eccles cakes dessert.
The hotel has its own cookery school too, which means you
can learn everything from traditional Lancashire dishes to Gujarati recipes.