WHEN Dave Morrison, for 40 years renowned North Yorkshire and South Durham cricket league wicket keeper, formed a partnership with exalted French chef Didier de Ville, it could truly be said to be a match made in culinary heaven.

The elusive chef, dubbed the scarlet pimpernel of North-East gastronomy, is now in safe hands at The Black Horse at Kirkby Fleetham, where his paysent-style cooking is a treat worth seeking out.

Kirkby Fleetham village, between Northallerton and Richmond, sprawls around its large green. An altogether more precise act, Dave Morrison took over The Black Horse last March. It's a busy and welcoming village pub - a roaring fire in the bar, football on the telly, the darts team warming up with an impromtu game. And it has Tardis-like proportions. Behind the bar is a large and elegant restaurant, upstairs three letting bedrooms for B & B (Dave's the breakfast chef. "Breakfast's from nine until five past," he jokes), and you almost need a map to find the ladies.

Dave, now 60, began his cricketing career at 16, playing mostly for Darlington RA but with spells at Northallerton, Richmond, Bishop Auckland and Barton. His misshapen fingers are testament to years behind the stumps; he says occasionally he still keeps wicket "but the eyes aren't so good, I do it by instinct now". The photographs on the walls of the bar bear witness to his sporting life - the blackboards to Didier's skills.

Didier was chef at Al Syros in Hartlepool - before that, famously, for a day and a half at a restaurant in Guisborough - when Dave tempted him to come south. Dave's partner Valerie Tait says when he came to take over the kitchens at The Black Horse she apologised for not clearing out the freezers. "Freezers? I don't need freezers", he told her. "And he doesn't," says Valerie. "Every day he travels down from his home in Hartlepool and calls at the fish quay and the markets. Everything he uses is fresh.

"All that's in those three great big freezers are a tub of Utterly Butterly and a carton of ice cream."

Tempted by the cosy fire on a cold December evening, we opted to eat in the bar. Starters from the blackboards (all around £4) included beef tomato, mozarella cheese and air-dried ham; ham and lamb shank terrine with onion marmalade, and crab and salmon salad with carrot and corinader sauce. From the a la carte there was grilled Queen scallops glazed with blue Wensleydale at £5.20; and sauted king prawns Thai style with coriander, lemon grass, ginger and spring onions at £5.40.

My choice, game bird terrine served with toasted brown bread and home-made chutney, was a delightful combination, the richness of the game cut by the sharp-flavoured chutney. My partner, Peter, went for the black pudding sauted with apple and red onions. Coming from a farming family where his mother actually made her own black pudding, Peter's something of an expert. This one passed the test. A good, grainy texture, fairly spicy and no off-putting lumps of fat.

Main courses, priced from around £7.50-£12, feature a good choice of fish and game. On the blackboards there's breast of guinea fowl with ginger wine and oranges; wild boar sausages, bubble and squeak and bramley sauce; sauted calf's liver, cracked black pepper and red wine sauce. And a la carte there's rib of beef with green peppercorn and brandy sauce, sauted monkfish with white wine, crme fraiche and basil, and breast of pheasant, sauted chestnuts, redcurrant and Madeira reduction served with celeriac mousse.

My main course - duo of salmon and sea-bass in a cabbage leaf, with seafood risotto, roasted cherry tomatoes and basil sauce - was simply a revelation. Contained within the cabbage leaf parcel, the two types of fish blended perfectly, the risotto adding a nice bite to the dish. Peter's choice was roast loin of cod. Now, you could expect this to be pretty straightforward, some might say even a bit dull. This wasn't. The generous portion of cod bestrode a veritable shoal of mussels and prawns, the whole combination pronounced excellent.

Vegetables - well, you do tend to overlook them with food like this - but, it has to be said the potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower were obviously very, very fresh and cooked to perfection.

Puddings, all at £3.20, included bitter chocolate mousse; tiramisu; bread and butter pudding, and crme brule. I choose the home-made iced nougat, simply one of the best ice creams I've ever tasted, and Peter, with due regard to the season, went for the Christmas pudding cheesecake, which was declared "wonderful".

And, with six real ales behind the bar and Didier's influence in the wine cellar, you could say we were completely bowled over.

The cost of the three-course meal for two: £37.15.