THE FACTS ABOUT THE DRUNKEN DUCK

England

On a crossroads near Ambleside stands a 400-year-old pub and microbrewery, formerly Barngates Inn, now the Drunken Duck in honour of some Victorian ducks who passed out after beer leaked from a barrel into their feeding trough. The landlady thought she might as well pluck and cook them, but as she went to put them in the oven the inebriated fowls woke and were spared, living out their lives in little knitted jackets. There's nothing particularly prepossessing about the pub's cream-painted pebble-dash exterior, nor its red-patterned carpeted lobby; but the place is a gem. The rooms are comfortable, the food is great, the service smiling, and it feels luxurious without being pretentious. Rooms are light (there were windows on three sides, looking across fields up a magnificent, lamb-filled blind valley) and unfussily furnished. The bathrooms are white-tiled, with soft, thick towels and bathrobes, and toiletries by Pure. Tea, with 'cake of the day', is included in the rate, and if you prefer not to have it in the lounge, the gracious staff will make up a tray and bring it over. The main bar is everything you'd expect of a country pub: hunting prints on the walls, hops hanging from the beams, furniture dark with syrupy varnish, and a range of ales brewed on site and named after the pub's past pets. There's a restaurant next door, which is transformed in the evening - with candlelight, large vases of lilies and white tablecloths - into an elegant dining room. The menu draws on carefully sourced local produce: a salad of artichokes and Cumbrian air-dried ham for example, followed by duck breast with roasted shallots; or pork fillet marinated in ginger and served with robustly spiced black pudding. Desserts included an excellent pear tarte tatin, and waffles with Tag Lag ice cream (deliciously malty and flavoured with one of the pub's own beers). Superbly executed, the cooking is unpretentious, like the rooms, and all the better for it. The coiled Cumberland sausages - peppery and green with herbs - may be the best you've ever eaten. CONTACT The Drunken Duck Inn, Barngates, Ambleside (015394 36347; www.drunkenduckinn.co.uk). Doubles from £85 B&B. Dinner à la carte about £25 a head