Shoptalk

Since then the food has became famous, the pub has featured regularly in all the best guides and glossy magazines, gathering clutches of awards and accolades every year, culminating last year in the award of a Michelin star, one of barely a handful of pubs in the country to have one.

And you know when the food is so good you wish you could take it home with you? Well at The Star, you can.

Four years ago, Andrew and Jacquie bought the house across the road from the pub, turned most of it into stylish and unusual bedrooms, and used the front for The Corner Shop.

It is small but packed. This is where you can buy many of the ingredients used in the recipes across the road. And also some of the poshest ready meals you're likely to find - made in The Star's kitchens by The Star's chefs.

So there's Leckenby's reared beef bourguignon with York ham lardoons, Paris brown mushrooms, garden thyme gravy. Or daube of Helmsley pork with roasted apples, cider cream, purple sage and onion dumplings. Or Cullen skink made with natural smoked Hartlepool haddock, parsley, potato and pearl barley.

"We know a lot of people just serve them up and pretend they're home made," says Andrew cheerfully. "Some of them even bring their own dishes in and ask us to fill them for them. That's OK by me. I won't tell.

"I like old fashioned favourites, good natural comfort food, but with a bit of a revamp to make them more interesting. It's not rocket science. "Mallard and mixed peel is really just a variation and duck and orange. We make our bubble and squeak with curly kale."

For a top chef he seems quite normal, friendly and down to earth. He is also passionate about using and promoting the best of local produce. "I'm from this part of the world. I know what great stuff there is about and I like to use as much of it as possible."

That includes local game and fish, locally reared meat, including Dexter cattle, fruit and veg grown locally with real flavour. And these feature in the shop.

"Chefs like to use nice ingredients. It makes our job easier. Smaller producers have to try hard and they tend to do one or two things really well."

Baskets overflow with curly kale, Swiss chard and lettuce, all grown near Thirsk. There are eggs from the village, knobbly celeriac, apples and boxes of tiny, delicious yellow tomatoes, also grown near Thirsk, so sweet you can eat them like grapes.

The shop also has produce from further afield - Neal's Yard cheeses, as well as local ones.

"When people have eaten in the restaurant, they often ask where we get the ingredients from, or if they can buy some of the cheese, for instance, to take home. So it just seemed a good idea to open the shop," says Andrew.

There are tubs of The Star's own cucumber relish and onion marmalade, as well as a huge range from Rosebud Preserves at Masham.

The shop isn't just for The Star's well heeled customers. It's also the village newsagents .

"That's good. It gets people in for their papers and they might buy something special for a treat or ask us to do something for a special occasion. But it means we're part of the village," says Andrew.

As well as the ready meals, cakes, bruschetta and delicious puddings, there are also their own pies, pates, sausage and black pudding rolls.

"We've now got a butcher's shop in Helmsley, which makes a lot of sense. We can work together and get exactly what we want," says Andrew.

The shop, Perns, in the Market Place, also has much of the same range as in The Corner Shop, including a freezer cabinet full of ready meals.

Back in Harome, they also sell gifts, jewellery and local pottery.

Meanwhile, a couple from London stroll across in the sunshine from The Star. Having enjoyed a good lunch, they now fancy taking a few bits and pieces back down South with them.

And when they tell their neighbours that these delicious treats came from a Yorkshire village corner shop, it won't do the North's reputation any harm, either.

l The Corner Shop, Harome, Helsmley. Tel: (01439) 77082. www.thestaratharome.co.uk Open Mon 8.30am-1.30pm, Tues-Sat 8.30am-6pm, Sunday 10am-4pm. Sells local meats and game, village and organic eggs, fresh fruit and veg, ready meals, terrines and pates, pastries and puddings, pies and rolls, fresh bread, chocolate. Catering service, hampers and picnics.