Temporarily deprived of a kitchen, Peter Barron goes in search of a replacement for his homecooked Sunday lunch

SINCE I am an unashamed crawler, I can happily tesify that my wife’s ability to cook a top class Sunday lunch is somewhere near the top of the list of the many positive things I could say about her. She’s got it down to a fine art.

The preparation is completed before the rest of us have risen from our beds, and the cooking is done while listening to BBC Radio 4, notably Just A Minute and Desert Island Discs.

It has been a rule of the house over the years that we show our appreciation by making every effort to sit down together once a week for Yorkshire puds, roast potatoes and all the trimmings.

I didn’t think it could get any better until the added touch of roasted carrots with coriander seeds took us to new heights recently.

But we’ve been in chaos over the past few weeks because we’re having a new kitchen fitted and there’s been no where to cook, so we had to go in search of a substitute Sunday lunch.

I’d heard decent things about the carvery at the Bay Horse, at Heighington, a lovely village a few miles out of Darlington, so we thought we’d give it a try.

My Heighington spy – a highly respected villager who shall remain nameless for the purposes of this undercover review – tells me that the pub has been well supported since it re-opened at the end of January, after being closed by the previous owners in October last year. Amanda Richardson, of the Bay Horse, at Middridge, took it over and Chris and Sue Flint are the current managers.

“It’s got a good reputation within the village and is attracting people from outside. It’s been good to see it back in business,” said my spy.

The first thing to say about the Bay Horse is that it benefits from an attractive location, overlooking one of the prettiest village greens in County Durham.

Inside there is still room for improvement in some of the decor, but it’s cosy enough, with a clear emphasis having been placed on a friendly approach to customer service.

With football being shown in a busy bar area, my wife and two of our four children were shown into the restaurant, which was also had plenty of Sunday lunchtime customers.

We all went for the carvery, even the vegetarians among us, who opted for everything except the meat choices of beef, pork and turkey.

Initially, there wasn’t a vegetarian gravy option, but that was swiftly sorted by the good humoured chap doing the carving. It was a perfectly adequate Sunday lunch, nothing more, nothing less, although the plates could have been hotter.

My beef was well cooked, but a woman on the next table grumbled about her pork (though not enough to make a complaint) and left most of it on the side of the plate.

There were plenty of crispy roast spuds, a couple of good-sized Yorkshire puds, and no shortage of vegetables, although I missed my roast carrots with coriander seeds.

Desserts comprised a very traditional list: lemon meringue pie, caramel apple pie, sticky toffee pudding, chocolate fudge cake and treacle pudding included.

Again, perfectly adequate without being anything out of the ordinary.

With a round of drinks, the bill came to just under £45, which amounts to pretty good value in my book.

With so many pubs going to the wall amid challenging economic conditions, it is good to see Heighington’s Bay Horse getting off the floor and having a decent run. Long may it continue.

FOOD FACTS

The Bay Horse, 28 West Green, Heighington, Co.Durham, DL5 6PE.

Tel: 01325 312312

Food: 3/5

Service: 4/5

Ambience: 3/5

Value: 3/5