Scawton is a lovely part of North Yorkshire. Set 10 minutes away from the stunning Sutton Bank, The Hare Inn at Scawton also has some of the most patient and welcoming staff I have encountered!

Enjoying a brief pause on our walk around Sutton Bank, we attempted to find somewhere to eat after our walk. Realising the folly of trying to just turn up somewhere on a Sunday without a reservation, we decided to try to ring to make a booking after reading some decent reviews of The Hare Inn. After about four aborted calls due to terrible signal, the very kind staff had somehow managed to realise that I was aiming to make a reservation and we found ourselves with a table confirmed for mid-afternoon.

The waiting area / bar room where we ate!

Once we arrived at the pub, the hospitality and kindness continued. As we parked up and walked in, another very kind guest advised us that our car hadn’t got the handbrake on fully and was attempting to roll away (fortunately we saved it!). Then, once we got inside, the staff had no problem with our request to sit down in the normal waiting area to eat as our little lady wasn’t quite in the mood to sit in the wonderful main restaurant.

We ordered a glass of champagne each, which came at a fairly reasonable cost and set the tone for an excellent meal.

An array of drinks!

Sunday lunch at The Hare Inn means a step away from the usual offering of tasting menus. There was the choice of a Sunday ‘roast’ and a few different meat dishes as well as a vegetarian option that seemed to be taken from the tasting menu. I opted to go for a venison dish and Charlotte chose to go for the Sunday roast beef, meaning that in a way we got a chance to try both styles of menu.

While we were waiting for our main courses to arrive, we were presented with some absolutely wonderful fresh bread. With two types of bread offered, and some fresh salted butter to accompany it, this was a delightful introduction to the food at The Hare Inn.

Wonderful bread and butter

Once they arrived, both dishes looked absolutely divine. Charlotte’s roast beef dish had beef cooked to perfection, an excellent Yorkshire pudding and also some top quality roasties. Charlotte had been off roast dinners since being pregnant, but this gave her back her taste for a Sunday roast!

Beautiful beef!

As for my meal, the venison dish was wonderful. The venison was cooked beautifully, allowing the strong flavours to shine through, and the intriguing addition of eel worked very well. For me, the best part of the dish is hard to pick out. However, when venison is cooked this well, you can’t complain, especially when you can enjoy it with the flavours of apple, hazelnut and celeriac in a dish that looks more like a piece of art than something you should eat! In an area that has two Michelin starred restaurants, The Hare Inn is certainly not left lagging behind in this respect.

Stunning venison

Despite the fact this always looked like being a bad move, I did decide to go for the Milk & Honey dessert. This bad judgement was based on the fact that the dish itself was going to be tasty but our little girl was running out of patience and wanted to go home! Charlotte went on a stroll with her as I dived into an array of milky textures that were complemented by the punchy taste and crunch of honeycomb.

All in all, the different textures worked together to make this dish a real belter of a pud.

Such a beautiful dessert

As I had a long(ish) drive back to Leeds on the horizon, I had to end the meal with a coffee (macchiato) and some divine petit fours. The coffee was nice and strong, and the petit fours truly indulgent.

Not a bad end to the meal!

At about £80 for the two of us with champagne, mains, one dessert, a couple of soft drinks and a coffee and petit fours, this was not bad value in my opinion for what we ate. That said, this is not an ‘average’ Sunday lunch and should not be treated as one; this is a gastronomic experience at a restaurant where the chefs clearly have a lot of skill and the food and service is impeccable.

The Hare Inn provides yet another reason why Yorkshire is the foodie place to visit in the UK at the moment as it showcases locally sourced, respected and excellently cooked produce in an intimate and picturesque setting.