The Punch Bowl

It's little over a year since the Punch Bowl was taken over by the team behind the legendary Drunken Duck, in league with two friends and Crosthwaite villagers, but already the transformation they've brought about is earning them industry plaudits.

A seasonal menu may not be the

cheapest in the pub world, but it's

tapping into the modern trend for quality food in a pub environment with

considerable success.

The current menu spans fish pie,

Lancashire cheese glaze and soused

fennel salad (£12.50) to grilled whole native lobster, chunky chips and aioli (£8.95), with delights such as homemade rabbit pie, loin and shoulder of salt marsh lamb, and some unusually mouth-watering vegetarian

options in between.

"We started off with a bar menu of

traditional pub grub and something more formal in the restaurant," says manager Steve Carruthers, "but customers told us what they really wanted was to see the best of each throughout the pub."

Around 65% of the Punch Bowl's

business comes from food, with the

remainder led by a top-class line-up of cask beers from Barnsgate - the Drunken Duck's own microbrewery - and a guest.

A list of 77 wines includes 18 by the glass and 15 organics.

The restaurant is decked out in

comtemporary décor, which is also

reflected in its nine letting rooms, all named after past vicars of the local church.

The bar has a more traditional pub feel without resorting to horsebrasses and floral red carpets.

How has the Punch Bowl won round the critics so quickly? Carruthers says: "It's the quality of the food, the staff and the finish, plus the location in the middle of nowhere, and the range of ales - a little bit of

everything really."