OF all the many eating places in Craven, the Priest's House at Barden Towers is surely one of the most awe-inspiring.

You swing in past the ruined fortification of Barden Tower which looks eerie, even somewhat menacing; it would make a great setting for a ghost story.

To one side is a smaller, more homely building; all 16th century stone and lattice windows. This is the Priest's House, built in 1513 as a hunting lodge and now carving out a name for fine dining.

We pitched up one Friday night during the July heatwave.

Perhaps that explains why we were the only ones in the restaurant the friendly co-owner serving us was perplexed: "You normally have to book on a Friday, we're very busy next week".

Mind you, the oak dining room is very snug and has only eight tables, so it wouldn't need many diners to create a bit of atmosphere amid the stone flags, oak beams and mullioned windows.

The menu is packed with steaks, but you can also choose from a set menu at both lunch and dinner. No arguing with the prices, two courses for £17.95 (£14.95 lunch) or three courses for £20.95 (£17.95).

The black mark for the Priest's House came early. We chose a bottle of Chablis, well down the wine list, which needs to be well chilled. There was none in the fridge and when the bottle arrived it was just on the cool side of room temperature. Co-owner Debbie stuck it in a cooler full of ice advising us to let it chill a bit, but as we wanted to drink it straight away, it was a bit disappointing.

Things improved from there as Debbie gave us her full attention. By the end of the evening we were swapping anecdotes on the vagaries of teenage boys and the pros and cons of being a golf widow.

I chose home-cured gravadlax, a smoked salmon with lime and gherkin compote with some delicious rock salt bread. My wife went for stuffed peppers with aubergine and walnut stuffing.

My main course was a halibut steak served on a bed of samphire. The halibut was good, but I have to rave about the samphire, which I had never heard of before. It is, apparently, a form of seaweed. Now before you think "ugh", I'll try anything once and I am hooked.

Nothing like that green grated cabbage which passes as seaweed at several Chinese restaurants, this was wonderful. Not salty, slightly crunchy but a sensational, original taste I recommend it highly.

No problem with my wife's half duckling other than she could not finish it served in an orange and cognac sauce and plenty of vegetables.

There was a choice of four desserts (one of them cheese). Not extensive but the two we selected (a filo basket with mascarpone topped with warm cherries and lemon sorbet with frosted lime and a raspberry coulis) were excellent value considering they were in effect just £3.

As we left just before 10pm the bats were circling above Barden Tower and the light was beginning to fade. An evocative place to hold a celebration.

Reviewed by: Ian Lockwood