The Tankerville Arms, Eglingham

Now we're in Eglingham.

Just make sure you spell the right one when programming the sat nav. Northumberland has a habit of giving villages suspiciously similar names and there are several directions you could disappear in if you get creative with the spelling.

The Tankerville Arms is another of our favourites.

The restaurant is popular at weekends, so we normally recommend booking if you know you're coming. But if you're feeling spontaneous, you can also eat in the bar if you manage to grab a table.

And that's actually rather nice.

Sunday afternoons here have a proper country-pub feel. Locals drift in, farmers come down from the surrounding hills and conversations start between people who didn't know each other ten minutes earlier.

On one visit, a chap stopped to admire Meg.

"You obviously know your collies," I said.

"Yes," he replied. "I have eight of them."

Fair enough.

Lunch is excellent, the atmosphere is wonderfully unforced, and it's exactly the sort of place where Sunday afternoon can quietly disappear.

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