The Alice Hawthorn

Simple ingredients turned into something wonderful is the mantra at The Alice Hawthorn, a 200-year-old pub tucked away in the Yorkshire countryside at the hub of the medieval village of Nun Monkton.

The Grade 2 listed redbrick building has been sensitively modernised to create a bar and restaurant along with letting rooms.

It was in October 2013, with no hospitality industry experience, that Richard Harpin and Kate Harpin bought their local pub. The missing ingredient was a talented operating team with John and Claire Topham becoming partners in the operation in 2017.

Chef John Topham has created a fresh, seasonal menu based on local ingredients but with an exotic twist. Menus change throughout the year, celebrating each season with the finest local Yorkshire produce.

Starters include seared scallops, crispy belly pork, camembert risotto with sherry vinegar dressing to roast butternut squash and coconut soup hangop with sage pesto and pecans.

Among the mains are chargrilled haunch of holme farm venison with dauphinoise, braised red cabbage, caramelised pear and blackberries and halibut diane with roast halibut, creamed celeriac, spinach, forest mushroom sauce, brioche crumbs.