Yorkshire’s Favourite Pub 2012

Welcome to Yorkshire recently ran a competition to find Yorkshire’s Favourite Pub, I remember seeing it a while back and voting for a local favourite of mine but then completely forgot about it until I saw the winner announced on the news while they were talking about the Great Yorkshire Show.

I’ll admit to being a little surprised when I saw the winner was The White Horse Inn at Rosedale Abbey, North Yorkshire, as It’s just along the road from me and a pub we walk past loads. We used to go in the White Horse quite a lot, many years ago but then after a few bad experiences we stopped going and hadn’t been back since, until yesterday.

We were meant to be going to the Great Yorkshire Show but due to the crazy amount of rain we’ve had lately the show was unfortunately cancelled so we thought we’d make the most of the day off and go for a walk on the moors from Hutton-Le-Hole and  (which you can read about here) followed by a trip to see what had changed at The White Horse and how it had won Yorkshire’s Favourite Pub 2012.

Beer with a view.

We turned up just before 17:00, we were covered in mud and not looking our best so we grabbed a quick drink from the well stocked bar then sat outside making the most of the rare appearance from the sun and enjoying the stunning views down the valley, after an hour or so and a couple more drinks we moved inside as the sun decided to hide behind some clouds and it got a little bit chilly.

The food was really tasty well priced and big portions, we shared the locally grown breadded mushrooms to start…huge chunks of juicy mushroom coated in a herby crumb and served with garlic mayo.  I then had the home cooked ham, free range eggs and chips, there was a mountain of delicious soft, flavourful ham, two perfectly fried eggs and a huge pile of chips, Emily had the double crust homemade steak and ale pie…it was huge, the meat was tender and packed full of flavour and the mash and veg were all perfectly cooked and in abundance. We’d have both loved to have sampled a pudding but were way too full to even think about it, that could also have been to do with the delicious Riggwelter and raisin ice cream I’d had earlier in the day in Hutto- Le-Hole.

The beers were all in great condition, obviously well kept and judging by the casks out side they get a good range from local breweries and some further a field.

The pub it’s self was nicely decorated, in a great location and above all walker and dog friendly….although we didn’t have a dog with us we quite often have relatives dogs so it’s nice to know we’ve got somewhere else we can take them.

During our whole visit the staff were really up beat, friendly and helpful and I can see why they did well in the voting. We will certainly be calling again soon, I can see it becoming a regualr on our Rosedale walk, either mid or post walk depending if we star there or at the Lion at Blakey Ridge.

So there we have it…Yorkshire’s Favourite Pub 2012…not sure it’s my favourite but it’s up there with them.