'YOU are lucky," the woman on the table next to us at the Buck Inn at Maunby said to her companion, "to live in such a quiet, tucked-away village with such a good pub on your doorstep."

And I would agree with her on both counts. The hamlet of Maunby is tucked away, quietly minding its own business just off the A167 Northallerton to Topcliffe road, and the Buck Inn is a very good pub indeed.

We have, however, known Maunby for quite some time - mainly because it's the venue for one of the most popular hunter trials in the area. So, while we've had a pretty intimate knowledge of the hedges, rails and ditches of the surrounding countryside, we've gone completely off course for the Buck. In fact, so little had we heard of the pub that it took a reader's recommendation to prompt our visit.

Landlord Phillip Hayton has also had problems letting people know where he is. Not one to hide his light, he'd put up two signs in an attempt to direct more customers to his pub. Sadly, planning officers at Hambleton District Council were not impressed with his initial efforts, but did offer to steer him in the right direction in a future bid.

Mr Hayton's fears of being overlooked appeared a little unfounded when we booked a Friday night table in the conservatory restaurant. Although not filled to capacity, the restaurant was busy and the cheery bar was crowded.

Phillip Hayton and Margaret Plews have obviously put a lot of care into their pub and the dividend is in the detail. It's cosy, but not overbearing, bright but not overlit: in all a very friendly and relaxing place to be - in fact everything you'd want in a country pub, right down to the nifty little peanut dispenser on the lounge bar.

I once shocked Peter by recounting some disgusting statistic I'd read about the amount of urine that passes from unwashed hands into bowls of peanuts on pub and hotel bars. So he was quite taken with the plastic, jelly bean-style machine that allowed him some drinks nibbles while studying the menu.

For starters I had a Thai-style crab cake in sesame crumbs with chilli salsa (£4.95), which was quite substantial for a first course but the sweet/sharpness of the chilli salsa did its job in teasing the taste buds for things to come.

Peter's black pudding tower with smoked bacon and mango chutney (£4.95) made no pretence of limp-wristed delicacy. This was strong stuff: a construction calling for scaffolding and a robust appetite for demolition.

Other starters included Szechuan chicken fajitas with stir-fry vegetables in a tortilla wrap and sour cream dip (£4.50); BBQ spare ribs with a four-leaf salad (£4.95); garlic mushrooms (£4.95), and smoked chicken Caesar salad (£5.50).

Forewarned by the generosity of the starters, we knew our main course choices were not going to be of the style-over-substance variety and, in fact, the dishes borne aloft by our ever-smiling waitress didn't disappoint on either count. Peter's herb crusted rack of lamb (£14.50) was beautifully presented on a herb mash with red wine sauce. The meat was perhaps a shade pinker than he prefers, but that didn't seem to spoil his enjoyment.

I choose the roast pork fillet stuffed with apple and garlic in a Calvados and grain mustard sauce (£12.95), which, as a new twist on a traditional theme, worked very well, although the sauce was maybe a little heavy. Vegetables were plentiful, crisp and well presented, and potato wedges - judging by their reception on other tables apart from ours - are a restaurant favourite. Are we becoming too posh to enjoy chips and have to have our fried potatoes disguised under a variety of titles?

Other main courses (from the carte) included breast of chicken with button mushrooms and smoked bacon cream sauce (£10.95); salmon fillet poached with dill beurre blanc (£12.95); half a roast duckling with mango and chilli salsa, red wine and rosemary sauce (£14.50), and Dover sole Colbert with prawns on garlic butter (£17.95).

There is also a selection of main courses for around £8 which include Cumberland sausage and mash; homemade steak and kidney pie; Whitby scampi and Yorkshire ham and eggs.

I would like to say that, after two such courses, we were persuaded (protesting) by our waitress into ordering puddings but, alas, such is the dedication to duty of the restaurant critic that we quite willingly opted for the homemade banoffie pie for me and an ice cream sundae for Peter. Other choices from the short but sweet menu (all £3.75) included sherry trifle, treacle sponge and profiteroles.

Our bill for three generous courses: a comparatively miserly £44.85.

And, for the record, the Buck Inn is approximately one mile from the turn-off signposted Maunby on the A167 Northallerton to Topcliffe road at South Otterington.

So now you know. The Buck stops here.