Foreword by Robert Cockroft

It was in April 1996 that a restaurateur friend handed me a copy of the menu from the Milburn Arms, a hotel in the lovely village of Rosedale Abbey on the North York Moors. It made interesting reading for two reasons: simple, seasonal dishes appeared to be approached from an oblique angle and menus of this level of creativity were far from common in this quiet corner of Yorkshire. Clearly, the Milburn warranted closer inspection. My friend, however, had mixed news. Its chef, a man in his twenties called Andrew Pern, was leaving to embark on a venture of his own. He and his partner, Jacquie, had newly acquired the thatched, 14th century Star Inn in the farming – and cricketing – village of Harome, two miles south west of Helmsley.