GAVIN AITCHISON finds himself almost lost in the Wolds this week

IT was Ian’s fault; make no mistake. He was navigating so he gets the blame. The fact he had told me to stay on the A64 – and had been duly vindicated – was immaterial. He can’t have been insistent enough and it was his fault. That was clear, if nothing else was.

For a while, it looked like this week’s Pints of View would be a total write-off. As we slalomed along country lanes and back roads, hopelessly lost and careering into the vast nothingness that is the Yorkshire Wolds at night, it felt more like a horror script than a pub review.

Perhaps the reader who emailed me the recommendation was not so benevolent after all, I thought.

Sleet and snow lashed down, an owl swooped in front of our car, and a lunatic in a four-by-four tailgated us for miles. And as we bumped over pothole after pothole, poor Gill in the back was getting queasier by the minute.

Finally though – late, short-tempered and battle-scarred – we arrived at our destination: the little Wolds village of Weaverthorpe.

This village is luckier than most, boasting not one but two pubs, and within a stone’s throw of each other. The Blue Bell is well-regarded as a fine-dining venue and for its accommodation but its bar is a fantastic place too, packed full of quirky curios and Champagne and whisky bottles.

It was its neighbour that we had come to see on this occasion though: The Star Inn, just beside the beck.

This place was closed for two years until last June, when Ali and Will Marchant moved up from Derbyshire to take over the reins. They have worked hard to revive its fortunes, carrying out a refurbishment inside and out, renovating the letting rooms, adding log burners and organising a wide range of events, including a clothes sale, a darts competition, quiz nights and live music this month alone.

They have not been without their problems, it should be said, notably the high water table meaning that the pub cellar has flooded for the first time in 30 years. As a result, there is currently one real ale on the bar rather than three, although normal service should resume when the water table recedes.

The one there was, a rotating special from Wold Top, was excellent and there was a decent selection of leading-brand alternatives for the non-ale drinkers. When the other hand-pulls are back in action they will serve York Brewery’s Guzzler and either Tetley’s or Abbot Ale, says Ali, whose father was a landlord and who therefore grew up in the trade.

Our main focus when we visited, however, was the food, especially after our lengthy delays en-route. Tuesday is pie night and Thursday is pizza night but when we visited last Friday, the standard menu was on, offering a selection of traditional and more innovative pub classics. Ian, Gill and I ordered ratatouille meatballs, scampi and a ‘Fat Elvis Burger’ respectively and were universally happy, especially as the latter two dishes came with fantastic, home-made, salt and pepper chunky chips.

Ali herself is head chef and says the food is almost entirely locally sourced, with suppliers listed on the bar blackboard. They imported an authentic Italian pizza oven but she says the signature dish is the steak and ale pie. And that might just be enough to persuade me to make a repeat visit, next time I’m returning from the Wolds or the coast. If I can find a more reliable navigator, of course.