A bank holiday guide to the best country pubs in the North West

Situated in Rochdale’s Toad Lane conservation area, The Baum is a traditional pub that has one foot firmly in the present day. 

There’s a story behind the American and British flags that fly over the entrance to The Bells of Peover, a country dining pub in a village south of Knutsford.

This historic coaching house serves adventurous British pub food in poetic configurations. Cooking is by mushroom forager and head chef, Chris Bury, whose CV includes the Fat Duck and Claridges, while award-winning suppliers include local wine merchants, D Byrne and Gornall’s dairy, near Preston. The interior, some of which dates back to the 1800s, is packed with wood panels and idiosyncratic artworks while the wider complex takes in glass-clad extensions, an al fresco terrace, and cool, eco-style cabins, integrated into the landscape. A place to get away from it all for a day, or a night – and enjoy some of the best food in the region at the same time.

The Eagle & Child is famous for offering excellent Sunday lunches and award-winning pub grub in the hills above Manchester.

The Parker’s Arms is a homely pub, serving and baking extraordinary, modern European food.

The Three Fishes at Mitton is in the heart of the beautiful Ribble Valley in Lancashire. Expect an immaculate whitewashed listed building, a cross between an Inn and a country pub, a welcoming bar and an original slate floor all warmed by open log fires.

Lovingly restored from, by all accounts, a wreck of a pub, The Waggon at Birtle now finds itself listed in the likes of The Good Food Guide and serves up award-winning menus, which change with the seasons and use the best regional produce from local suppliers.

The White Hart at Lydgate is a rustic dining pub with an excellent reputation and wine list. Located 700 feet above sea level, where Saddleworth Moor starts, the restaurant is in an impressive former coaching house, and it’s a place for all: there’s a restaurant and brasserie with two AA rosettes, a pub, function areas and a boutique hotel.

Some folk in the village still refer to The White Swan at Fence as The Mucky Duck and you can still order a pint of Timothy Taylor’s at its very pubby bar. But over recent years The Swan has established itself as a destination fine-dining spot thanks to young chef Tom Parker from up the road in Burnley.