Pignut and The Hare offers a sustainable edible idyll

DEEP in a corner of the North Yorkshire countryside, once conquered by the Normans and cultivated by Cistercian monks, we came in search of the eponymous ‘Pignut’ but instead had to settle for a radish appetiser at the start of a remarkable meal. 

Not just any radish, mind. It was the first harvest from the raised beds at Tom and Laurissa Heywood’s Pignut and The Hare in Scawton. Leafy hinterland of Rievaulx Abbey; perfect base for visiting other heritage musts and ‘England’s Best View’ (above).

Take care to duck when tackling its medieval doorways – otherwise your skull might pay for all this authenticity

The chef/sommelier couple only moved in last summer (swiftly winning an AA Five Star Restaurant with Rooms Gold Award). Five miles down the road in Helmsley,  Pignut, their 14-cover debut dining room had forged its reputation on its commitment to foraging and sustainability. It was named after conopodium majus, a commoner than you’d imagine umbellifer, its delicate fronds confirming it’s a wild cousin to the carrot. 

Uproot it in spring and there’s this tiny edible tuber. Pigs love to guzzle it, hence the name. Alternative monikers include hog nut, earth nut and kipper nut. Trim off the outer skin and taste. Hazelnutty apparently. After our overnight stay and breakfast we quizzed Tom about it. It’s in season, yes? Why’s it not on on their tasting menus? Because it’s best eaten directly after unearthing as it quickly loses its texture.

Which still left us with an array of wild plants – from sweet cicely, meadowsweet, vetch, cow parsley, wild garlic and hedge garlic across dinner to the creamed hogweed we slathered over a breakfast waffle next morning. NOT to be confused with Giant Hogweed, which is hardly Mother Nature’s edible bounty.

Whether the pig that supplied the meat main had ever nibbled on pignuts we weren’t to know. The pork – which had been dry-aged in a salt cabinet by the bar for three weeks – came from the Castle Howard estate half an hour to the south. The Heywoods’ move to Scawton will soon enough yield its own. Keen on a nose-to-tail cooking ethos, they have gone the whole hog. Their own Gloucester Old Spot, free range and seasonally acorn fed, is bulking up at a nearby farm with three other pigs to be shared between the 100 villagers for their own use. 

If it all sounds very medieval, well, tiny Scawton is mentioned in the Domesday Book and what was previously The Hare Inn dates back to the 12th century. We wondered if the exposed beams in our upstairs suite, Jackson, were that old. They looked it. Contrastingly our Emma bed offered perfect contemporary comfort. The complimentary bedside fudge plus mineral water and milk in a slim fridge were lovely touches, too.

More beams in the huge, state-of-the-art bathroom (featuring local whey soap) and a burnished copper standalone tub that at first glance suggested a beached knight in armour. Medieval cautionary note: take care to duck when tackling doorways here. Otherwise your skull might pay for all this authenticity.

Credit for this and the three other gorgeous bedrooms is down to previous owners Paul and Liz Jackson, who over a decade built up the Hare’s reputation as a gastropub. The willow-woven boxing hares on the front lawn remain from their tenure. Inside Tom and Laurissa have tweaked the decor sympathetically, while recycled bottle tops have been transformed into a carpet for a 23 cover dining room, all simple round wooden tables and tan leather chairs.

The shelves bulge with pickles, oils and vinegars made from foraged produce; bowls and plates are the kind of rustic ceramics you’d expect, the knives you take your pick of from a box come from Fulford Forge down the road. This has also crafted meat skewers out of keen rider Laurissa’s old horseshoes. Carbon neutral is de rigueur here as you’d expect. Two ‘Wastage’ courses are designed around the leftovers from creating the other courses to help achieve zero waste.

Sound over worthy? Not a bit of it, factoring in all the playful touches that match the joy the small team exude. A quirky touch is the concluding course of our 14 course tasting menu. ‘Nan’s Cake Tin’ is a nostalgic homage to Tom Heywood's childhood. Miniature, retro baked goods—such as butterfly buns—are presented inside a vintage tin. Already at each table Laurissa has snapped a vintage Polaroid picture to patiently develop for you. A further memento is the biodegradable paper menu infused with flower seeds. Back home we’ve soaked, then planted it and await a crop of daisies, poppies and rudbeckia.

Highlights of the food and wine on offer?

• That radish, which is served raw, spicy leaves and all, and dressed in a magnolia vinaigrette using flowers from the acclaimed Mount St John Gardens, further along the Hambleton Hills. On a custard of Blue Monday Cheese, it is finished with a coffee crumb.

• The Castle Howard pork comes with barbecued Lion’s Mane mushroom, hedge garlic and a Mangalitza black pudding sauce.

• A more surprising use of fungi that has become something of a Pignut signature dish – a Mushroom Mousse savoury dessert, served with a caramel made from British fava beans to add a a salty umami flavour.

• Maybe the stand-out dish was a surprise – a bowl of wild garlic, naked oats and Yellison crowdie. This protein-rich variety of edible grass is ‘naked’ because the husk falls off naturally during harvest, so minimal processing. The crowdie is a mellow goat milk version of the Scottish spreadable cheese. North Yorkshire produced like the first wine in our pairing…

Pinot Noir Precoce Queen of the North is a Champagne Method sparkler from Dunesforde Vineyard, just off the A1M near Knaresborough, and tasted the equal of the finest French Cremants. It set the bar high for Laurissa’s seven pairing picks. Eclectic with more than a nod to low intervention, the wines ranged from Tuscany and Lanzarote to Slovakia and Poland. Tempting too is a cocktail list with, you guessed, natural roots. The likes of Forager Pina Colada, featuring pineapple mayweed, fig leaf, milk, Liberations Pina Rum and Toti White Rum.

It would be wrong to ignore the drinks offering. Another good reason to book a bedroom is the Pignut breakfast – a miniature epic. This was a set feast of yoghurt, granola and compote, the waffles with hogweed cream, chunky toast with rhubarb jam and Acorn Dairy butter, then Castle Howard sausages and bacon with poached egg, Moorside mushrooms and that Mangalitza black pudding again, served with tea and coffee plus apple juice.

The suppliers (some of whom I’ve mentioned) get a star billing in the Heywoods’ recently published The Forager’s Table (Meze, £25). It’s an insight into how chef Tom made the leap from learning his trade in some high end kitchens such as Midsummer House, The Ledbury and The Cottage in the Wood to ploughing his own sustainable, regenerative furrow. 

The epiphany came at Dan Barber’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns in upstate New York, whose own farm-to-fork ideals inspired Joseph, Richard and Dan, the team behind Manchester’s Higher Ground, who worked there together a decade ago.

We dined at Pignut and The Hare days before Michelin finally conceded it was retiring its ‘Green Star’ awards. If ever a restaurant deserved one it was surely this. Maybe it will be in line for the vague replacement accolade “Mindful Voices”, shortly to be launched. A regular Michelin star should be their true reward. The experience is that good. 

Where is Pignut and The Hare handy for?

England’s most majestic and complete monastic ruin, Rievalux Abbey is just an seven minute drive, an hour’s walk away. You save money by booking in advance online with English Heritage. The classic view of it is from Rievaulx Terrace. The National Trust are the custodians of these 18th-century landscape gardens with two temples. They reopen in summer.

A humbler 12th century survivor is St Mary’s parish church in Scawton. Sensitively restored in the late 19th century, it is well worth the two minute stroll from Pignut and the Hare. A poignant 20th century footnote is to be found in the porch – a memorial to five Free French airmen returning from a mission in 1945, whose bomber crashed nearby. Only two survived.

Helmsley, once the home of Pignut, is a picturesque market town with the ruins of a medieval fortress. In its shadow you’ll find the volunteer-run five acre Helmsley Walled Garden, which supplies produce to Pignut and the Hare, as does nearby Duncombe Park, home also to the National Centre for Birds of Prey. A real ale haven after your sightseeing is the Helmsley Brewery tap on Bridge Street. 

Helmsley is the start of the 109-mile Cleveland Way, which circles the North Yorks Moors and follows the coastline all the way to Filey. Three miles west of Pignut and the Hare is the first of many spectacular stretches – the escarpment path to “England’s Finest View’, lush farmland below stretching away to distant Dales. Maybe a glider or two completing your Instagram record. Park up in at the Sutton Bank National Park Centre, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Half way down the ‘cliff’ you cane see Gormire, a natural glacial lake one mile in circumference. Take the nature trail down an immerse yourself in its legends. Not literally unless you are a wild swimmer. Leeches and blue green algae are not for the faint-hearted. Neither really is its reputation as the unfathomable ‘Gateway to Hell’, a galloping Abbot transformed into the Devil and home to a submerged lost city. Google the details.

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