Peak District Eats - The Royal Oak and the best ribs in UK

Ok, so Stoke-on-Trent is not on the top of everyone's list of places to visit - unless of course you have excellent taste in ceramics. But travel north out of the city through Leek and you are soon into the wonderful Roaches and the Peak District. And here are some wonderful places to eat. Choose Tissington or Ilam for tea (which we did) and for lunch you must visit the Royal Oak near Hurdlow.
They have a great menu with lots of variety, which sometimes spells trouble, but here they know what to cook and cook it well. I had liver with red wine gravy, red onions and smoked bacon on delicious mashed potato, the liver was tender and the gravy robust and comforting. My husband opted for ribs and steak. Good ribs are difficult to find here but these were delicious, tender, a generous size and the sauce was amazing. We later found out the owner had been given the recipe to him by a friend in Nantucket, Mass.

We all ate well and would've had dessert if the mains hadn't been so big! The staff and owners were super-friendly and clearly love what they do and they are careful to source their ingredients locally. Highly recommended and they have great ales too.