Restaurants Preston: Deep in the Forest of Bowland the UK’s top gastropub more than lives up to its awesome reputation

Lancashire? How can that be? Surely the smoke from the mill chimneys must have addled the judges' brains.

But if they took the time to find out, they would soon realise the Red Rose county has been punching well above its weight in the good food stakes for years now.

Amazing places like the Parkers Arms in the Ribble Valley have been quietly creeping up the foody ladder, practically unnoticed by all-but those who really know. And when this remote hostelry, high in the Forest of Bowland, finally set foot on the top rung this year, it was not before time for many food critics and chefs alike.

Being voted No 1 brings with it high expectations. Customers can't wait to say they have eaten in the UK's premier gastropub. So managing to make a booking in the middle of such a feeding frenzy can be challenging, although we still claimed a lunchtime table for two in a cosy corner at the first time of asking.

Coming just weeks after we had also paid a clandestine visit to No 3 in the list - the incredible Freemasons Arms at Wiswell near Clitheroe - the stakes were bound to be high. But I have to say the experience, like with its neighbour, really did live up to all the hype which often surrounds these multi-award-winning venues.

To say the Parkers Arms is in a remote setting is under-stating it. To reach it you first go to the village of Waddington and then drive north over miles and miles of moorland with only sheep as company. Eventually you hit upon a time hamlet called Newton-in-Bowland, with your whitewashed destination emerging on your left.

The welcome we received - and bear in mind the staff were blissfully unaware we were there to test out the judges' markings - was as warm as any on our Dining Out journey around Lancashire. The male front of house was an absolute joy, as was his female colleague who kept our table well-supplied and dispelled any possible concerns that, being the UK's No 1, there might be an element of snootiness about the place.

The Parkers' offer was a no-nonsense three courses for £45. The menu had just five starters and four mains, with two seafood specials. For afters there was a choice of four. But when you consider these intricate dishes are cooked to order from fresh, you can understand the need to avoid being over-ambitious.

To open proceedings Mrs E chose the minced spiced Burholme Farm sourdough flatbread with mint yoghurt, pomegranate and dressed leaves. She loved it. I opted for charcoal-grilled Wye Valley new season asparagus with a (raw) Slaidburn egg yolk sitting in a wild garlic mayonnaise. Wow.

For mains the boss, having read how famous the Parkers Arms is for its gold medal-winning pies, decided she had to try one - a brilliant chicken and mushroom version in roasted rendered fat pastry. It was all she had expected and more.

Me? Well for a change I swerved the pastry option and went for the much lighter charcoal grilled Whitby gurnard fillet in a wonderful curried crab sauce. Simply delicious, as were our desserts – mine a rich Valrhone chocolate affair and Mrs E’s featuring Tomlinson’s Yorkshire rhubarb.

OK, £90 for lunch, minus drinks, could be considered a little extravagant by some. But, then, we were eating at the country’s No 1 gastropub and quality like this is bound to cost.