I'VE had a soft spot for the Grange Arms at Hornby ever since, in a strange exercise of mindless irrelevance, I'd worked out that it was the pub at the very centre of this newspaper's circulation area.

There was no serious geographical justification for this reasoning; more a gut feeling that a point roughly equidistant from Ripon, Hawes, Whitby and Wolsingham would be a spot somewhere in the Darlington, Northallerton and Yarm triangle.

Either of Great Smeaton's two hostelries would have fitted the bill, but with Hornby being a couple of miles off the beaten track which is the A167, it somehow seemed more appropriate.

Being in a small village which is forever confused with Hawnby - betwixt Helmsley and Thirsk - and that other Hornby - near Bedale - the Grange Arms has always had to work hard for its customers and has maintained a reputation for good food over many years.

The present owners, Neil and Sandra Goodenough, admit that keeping the Grange Arms going in recent times hasn't been easy and they have plans to diversify their business with the addition of a couple of holiday cottages on land they own to sustain the pub's future.

Those plans for 2004 also include creating five small dining rooms so that groups of between five to eight people can enjoy a private dining experience.

On a recent visit just before Christmas, on a bitterly-cold night, my wife and I enjoyed the privacy of a table tucked between a roaring log fire and a Christmas tree. The separate dining rooms might well be a good idea for I found myself toasted on one side by the log fire and chilled on the other by a draught coming from behind what appeared to be a curtained off door.

The festive accoutrements included a particularly grotesque Santa figurine on the table, which we will give the Goodenoughs the benefit of the doubt and accept was intended to be fashionable kitsch.

The menu is quite lengthy, both starters and main courses, with plenty of fish. We choose confit of crispy duck on a watercress salad with a hoi sin and plum dressing and black pudding and Stilton parcel with an apple and raisin chutney and balsamic dressing (both £4.95).

Slight misgivings about the black pudding and Stilton parcel being a bit heavy-going proved misplaced. The parcel was made of bric pastry which was light as a feather and the black pudding was mild rather than spicy. The chutney lightened things further.

My wife's duck was both crisp and tender with the salad dressing adding some welcome oriental piquancy.

The main courses measured up well too. A cod and crab dome - white crab meat in a cod fillet with a tomato and basil sauce (£14.50) was beautifully presented. Perhaps the sauce, which was very tomato-ey and fragrant, overwhelmed the fish a bit but it was a spectacular dish nevertheless.

The lamb shank with a port, redcurrant and rosemary jus (£7.50) was prosaic by comparison but there was no fault in the lamb, which fell off the bone and soaked up the rich jus.

Vegetables were as they should be. The home-made chips were the size of dockers' fingers and particularly good.

We finished by sharing a perfectly acceptable fresh strawberry pavlova - strawberries and fresh cream sat on meringue surrounded by strawberry coulis (£3.95).

Together with a couple of decent coffees and two drinks from the bar, the bill came to a shade over £40 which represented very good value for the standard of cooking. The service was simple and efficient.

Later, I learned from Neil Goodenough that even better value can be had on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, when diners who buy one course get the second one free. So it would be possible to order, say, two Aberdeen Angus steaks (9oz fillet or 12oz sirloin) with sauces of your choice for a total of £15.95. It has proved to be a popular offer in 2003 and he intends to continue with it in 2004.

Neil also told me that the pub's regular chef is on maternity leave and Sandra has been filling in as chef. With daughters Sarah and Lisa helping at tables and in the kitchen, it is very much a family effort at present.

To give Sandra a break the Grange Arms did not serve food over the Christmas and New Year period. It starts providing its usual restaurant service on Tuesday, January 6.