Chris Lloyd finds Ingleton's honest The Black Horse pub restaurant is well worth an unannounced visit

THE Black Horse at Ingleton is an honest village pub providing value for money and a pleasant dining experience. It is a hard working place, with steak night on a Wednesday and burger night on a Thursday. On a Friday night, judging by the number of brown paper parcels coming out of the kitchen, it appears to feed half this Teesdale village with fish and chip takeaways.

We arrived unannounced, with low November cloud brushing the pub roof and heavy rain filling the car park puddles. The pub was warm and welcoming.

Since February, it has been run by the brother-and-sister team of John and Donna Price, who grew up in Ingleton. They started off with the Village Inn at Brompton and have recently added the Mowden, in Darlington, to their stable.

The Black Horse has a bar, where villagers gathered around a good fire, drinking Black Sheep and watching the football, and a bright and busy dining area which squeezed the two of us in.

The menu is fairly limited – four starters and about ten classic mains – but enough to give us a choice. I opted for the garlic mushrooms, which arrived rather dwarfed by their large white bowl and more mushroomy than garlicky. But they were hot and tasty, and were accompanied by a nice hunk of warm artisan bread.

Petra, my wife, tackled the mozzarella salad, which was a layer of sliced tomatoes, a layer of mozzarella, and a pile of greenery, accompanied by a balsamic and pesto dressing and vivid green olive oil. She enjoyed it.

The main courses on offer included scampi, liver and onions, lasagna, steak, beef and ale pie, lentil burger and Black Horse Burger – this, judging by the piled plates on the table next to us, was the house speciality rather than a scandalously sourced meat.

Petra, though, chose the fish and chips from the blackboard. The large haddock was nicely cooked, the chunky chips came in a mock twist of newspaper, and the mushy pies were creamy. All in all, it was a good example of the British classic.

I took on the stuffed chicken, wrapped in bacon, topped with cheddar cheese and smothered with a powerful, fruity BBQ sauce. It was a very large chicken, with a herby onion stuffing, and again well cooked, although the BBQ sauce probably overpowered the tastes of the cheese and the bacon. It was accompanied by good potato wedges and half a corn on the cob. Corn on the cob is a desperately difficult vegetable to eat with any decorum – do you hold it and pick off the individual sweetcorns, or do you pick it up and gnash at it as if it were a typewriter roller, like Tom and Jerry? Either way, when punctured, the pockets spurt warm water all over the table.

The enormity of the chicken dish didn't put me off dessert – again four choices, plus ice cream and cheeseboard – although it did prevent me from attempting a sticky toffee pudding. Searching for something a little light, I chose the creme brûlée, which was exactly how it should have been: crunchy on top, cold and creamy in the middle.

Petra was equally content with her pistachio cheesecake.

Our bill came to £40 – we'd qualified for the Twilight special, served Wednesday to Saturday, from 5pm to 9pm, which gives two courses for £13 or three for £15, plus we bought a bottle of wine for a tenner. Although there's nothing exceptionally flash at the Black Horse, it is honest fare at a very fair price.

Food facts

The Black Horse, Ingleton, DL2 3HS

Tel: 01325-730374

Website: blackhorseingleton.co.uk

Ambience: 3/5

Food quality: 3/5

Service: 3/5

Value for money: 4/5