Trifter

A RURAL PUB IN DEEPEST NORTHUMBERLAND

I was lucky being short on the first occasion that I visited the Dipton Mill Inn, two miles south of Hexham in Northumberland.  I was able to slide neatly under the lintel.  My much taller friend, distracted by the short skirt and long shapely legs of the girl in front of us was not so lucky and banged his brow.  It was then that I realised the sign Duck or Grouse referred to the height of the door and not the menu.

Returning there after four decades, I found that the Dipton Mill had not changed in the important things.  The service was quick and friendly, the craic was agreeable, the beers were still excellent, the food was good and the menu extensive.

Of course it has changed hands, possibly many during this interval.  Former chartered accountant Geoff Brooker and his wife, Janet took it over roundabout the Christmas time in 1989.  Two years later Geoff opened the Hexhamshire Brewery, almost two miles away.

Now 24 hours in one day are not enough time for Geoff and Janet to complete all their tasks.  His time is occupied by making deliveries and ringing around for orders while Janet’s life is monopolised with preparing the food and running the pub.  Still as the Spanish proverb goes; give the task to the bus man, the lazy man has no time to do it.

“I have enough time to take the dog for a walk, then water then leeks before we open again,” say Geoff.

The low door leads into a low ceilinged room with wood panels.  The inside is tranquil, belying the hectic life of its owners.

It serves four beers brewed by Geoff at the Hexhamshire Brewery made from unneeded bulk milk storage containers.  There is the Devil’s Elbow, a hoppy dark amber bitter at 3.6%, Shire Bitter, an easy drinking session beer, tasting of hops and fruit at 3.8%, Devil’s Water, a fruity copper coloured best bitter at 4.1% and Whapweasel, a hoppy bitter with slivers of citrus at 4.8%.

Geoff also brews a winter ale, Old Humbug, which he insists is named after himself.  It is 5.5% and Geoff is considering brewing it all year round.

The brewery has undergone a minor expansion and refurbishment.  A friend, David Barron, who in turn has been an all in wrestler, jockey, advertising executive, potter, TV repair man and milkman helps Geoff on brewing days.

“Expanding the brew length is one way to give me more time to do the marketing.  The new cooler that we put in halves the time that I spend in the brewery,” said Geoff.  “I can save two hours a day for a relatively modest investment and once you start cutting down on time, you can concentrate on getting the quality of the product right.  But it also puts the pressure on to sell more to other customers.”

A lot of local produce is used in the kitchen.  The menu includes steak pie, lamb, mince and dumplings, rhubarb crumble and syrup sponge.  A new favourite with both locals and visitors are the smoked salmon sandwiches.

Local cheeses, such as Kielder, Doddington, Smoked Northumbrian and Cuddy’s Cave make up most of the delicious cheeseboard.  The only foreign? cheese is the Cotherstone from the neighbouring Co Durham.

Geoff came to the Dipton Mill after spending much time working away from home as an accountant to industry.

“I felt as if I’d hardly seen the kids.  It brought it all home to me when after I had phoned from America my daughter said to my wife ‘Is that daddy?’  I thought he was dead.’”

Geoff and Janet run a Burns Night and a number of Indian supper nights.  They celebrate St George’s Day, St David’s Day and St Patrick’s day.  “It’s all in appalling taste, but it’s always very good fun.”

The couple can never predict each morning just how busy the day will be.  They just have to take things as they come.

“In the mornings, we go through what me need to do that day,” says Geoff.  “That way we can’t argue about it later.  We’ve a definite lunch trade and an evening trade.  Regulars come from the likes of Whitley Bay.  We even have one couple who come from Edinburgh once a month.  People use it as a midway meeting point.

“Evening trade is much more local, Hexham and the local farming community.  Saturdays and Sundays are so different again and the beer garden is a real boon then.  Saturday evenings, it is all locals.  Sunday lunchtime is all visitors.  It’s rare we’ get anybody who lives within 10 miles.”

The beer garden with the West Dipton Burn running through it is an ideal place to relax on warm days.

Hexhamshire Brewery us an 18th Century woodcut, by local engraver Thomas Bewick, featuring two men carrying a barrel on ropes between them as its logo. It was long thought that it was a barrel of beer.

However a visiting customer pointed out that it would be a barrel of urine to be used in the local leather tanning trade.

The Dipton Mill has long be well worth visiting, especially after a walk or ride in the area.