Yorkshire fare hits the Heights at a cosy restaurant woven into the fabric of Bronte country

By Danny Wheeler
Updated: 13:00 EST, 27 November 2009

There is nowhere better to sit and reflect on a hard day’s yomping in Wuthering Heights country than the Weaver’s.

Homely and safely out of the wind, the warmth of the furnishings matches the welcome in this rustic but modern bar/restaurant - the sort of place where your legs can ache in real comfort.

Just a few cobbles away from the Parsonage Museum, in Haworth, where Charlotte, Anne and Emily lived, wrote and died, this is the heart of Bronte country.

The moors are moments away at the top of the village and with them come huge, expansive views, Top Withens - the ruins upon which the Earnshaw home in Wuthering Heights is believed to be based - Charlotte’s famous waterfall, more views and lots and lots of sheep.

By day the moors provide landscapes so dreamy they inspire books but come nightfall, it’s nice to close the door and shut them off - and the Weavers is the classiest place in town to shelter.

Colin and Jane Rushworth have spent 32 years establishing the family business and the décor has been lovingly assembled over that time.

There’s a great quirkiness to the place, right down to the Trivial Pursuit questions in pots on every table in the cosy bar.

While supping a fruity little ale from the Little Valley Brewery in nearby Hebden Bridge, I alighted on my entre of ham hock and belly press, homemade piccalilli and oil brushed toast, while my wife Julie chose hot smoked tea and treacle salmon flakes and thin sliced, beetroot cured salmon, new season potato and a pea and bean salad.

The portions are so hearty an appetite is important but our young sons managed the pate, soldiers and pickles between them.

There is a heavy accent on local and seasonal produce with fennel, beetroot, goat’s cheese from Yellisons Farm near Skipton, black pudding, Whitby crab and even Yorkshire hemp seed dressing featuring on the starters menu.

They also had corn beef and potato hash with fried egg and ‘secret’ brown sauce - ingredients for one of the best meals of my life last year in Mr Thomas’s Chop House in Manchester - but I couldn’t risk filling up.

Not with breast of Lune Valley duck to come anyhow, dusted in five spice, doused in hedgerow damson sauce with a rosti potato and wilted bok choi.

Again, it was a feast, and I was only just able to finish off the crackling belly that came with Julie’s medallions of outdoor reared pork, fruit chutney and crushed potatoes.
The boys shared Ellisons’ prize-winning pork sausages and mash and voted it a triumph.

Meat-lovers face a tough choice though here with Malham beef, Yorkshire lamb and locally farmed chicken also on the menu. My next visit will see me taking in the meat and potato pie, featuring Pennine-reared beef skirt.

For dessert, the team went for ice cream and I tested my tummy to the limit with Four Northern Cheeses and crackers.

Supplied by specialist makers, the cheeseboard displays the same pride and confidence in locally produced food as the rest of the menu and I shall be looking out for Sandhams, a traditional tasty Lancashire, on my travels.

At an average of just under £7 for a starter and with mains ranging from £16 to £23, the prices aren't cheap, but a recommendation comes with a guarantee that nobody will leave the table hungry.

If sensible, guests might take advantage of the rooms available so they don't have to wobble far but at the very least diners can be sure of gaining sustenance for another day's trekking around the moors crying 'Heathcliff' and 'Cathy'.