Chef Andy Beaton joins The Black Swan in Ravenstonedale

The moment Andy Beaton walked into the Black Swan he felt at home. He had been before as a customer, but this time was different. This time he was visiting as the Ravenstonedale pub’s potential new head chef, and happily he had a very good feeling.

“As I walked in it just felt right,” he recalls. “Even before I met Louise, I had in my mind that I was coming here.”

Louise Dinnes has owned the Black Swan for 18 years. When she met Andy, the feeling was mutual and now both are looking forward to continuing the pub’s success under outgoing chef Scott Fairweather and building on it still further.

Andy Beaton and Louise Dinnes (Image: Sheenah Alcock) Scott has decided to move on after eight years having put the Black Swan on the map for fine dining in a pub setting.

As well as serving local people, its location draws motorists off the A685 between Kirkby Stephen and Tebay who are en route to the M6 or A66, walkers on the Wainwright Coast to Coast and holidaymakers attracted by the Howgills and remoter parts of Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales.

It is with all these potential customers in mind that Louise appointed Andy following his visit. Together they are developing the vision going forward to ensure Ravenstonedale is a destination, whether for lunch as part of a day out, for a relaxed dinner or a short break stay.

Black Swan Ravenstonedale (Image: Sheenah Alcock) When Louise and her husband Alan bought the pub it was virtually derelict. They both came from finance and blue chip company backgrounds and had a vision to create a welcoming hostelry with rooms in this unspoiled and lesser visited corner of the county.

Alan was not well when they moved to Ravenstonedale. “Our daughter Ellie was ten and we felt we needed to spend time together. I like cooking and people and in my naivety thought we’d have more time, which was a laugh because we hardly saw each other,” says Louise, who is from Whickham, on Tyneside, and was brought up in a pub.

Nevertheless, they began to enjoy some success as they turned the Black Swan around.

“It’s a lovely place; everyone who comes says that. We haven’t stripped it down, we wanted to keep that cosy, welcoming country atmosphere.

“We inherited the previous chef, Tim, who stayed on for a further five years, and we built it up from being quite sad to a really good pub with good quality but basic food.”

Their next chef, Kevin Hillier, stayed for around five years too. “He took us a bit higher still, then we were lucky enough to get Scott to join us.”

Black Swan Ravenstonedale (Image: Sheenah Alcock) Sadly, Alan did eight years ago, just before Scott came as head chef. “We gave him the autonomy to do what he wanted and express himself through his food. It was a great success as far as the quality of the food and the awards he won. He really did put us on the map.

“He told me he was ready to move on about a year ago because he has a little one now and was moving to Arnside. We worked together on his future and mine. It wasn’t a bombshell. We decided together that it would be better to announce it ahead of time so he put it on social media that he was going.

“I didn’t want to recruit an unknown person from outside the area who doesn’t know us or where we are. Obviously I was apprehensive because Scott has been here a long time but everything has fallen into place and it’s been an opportunity to reflect on what we do and to get excited about the future. You have to evolve.

“Andy saw Scott’s message so we didn’t need to advertise and when we first met we were both on the same page straightaway as to where we needed to go and what to keep: our two rosettes, and à la carte menu but also to widen what we offer.

“People have had to know we are here and come to us for good food, but we do get passing trade too. Going forward, we’re looking at attracting a wider audience. It might be people who want to break their journey to Scotland or going south on the M6 who want to eat somewhere local rather than at services and just want to stop for a sandwich. When they come they’ll find a fantastic, pretty village where they’ll have the best sandwich, then next time they do the journey they’ll make a point of stopping off here.”

Andy adds: “I think lunch is going to be a big thing going forward, people who are going walking and want a light lunch before they set off, or coming back. It’s got to be as good as having dinner, visually impressive and really tasty.”

Alternatively non-residents are also welcome for breakfast from 8am-10am before heading off into the fells.

Originally from Barrow, Andy started studying catering at Barrow College. “There was only me and one other lad who were genuinely interested in cooking and my lecturer said I should find a job somewhere decent and he helped me get a job.”

It was at Petit Blanc, in Oxford, owned by renowned French chef Raymond Blanc. Andy was just 16. “I literally packed my bags and went for a trial. I didn’t have anywhere to live and the only job I’d had before was potwashing at the Old Mill, at Bardsea.

Black Swan Ravenstonedale (Image: Sheenah Alcock) “It was a real eye opener, but straightaway I was fascinated by what the chefs did; I just loved being in the kitchen. I’d gone from doing jacket potatoes at college to cooking that was so many levels on. I just though, ‘wow, this is incredible’. I learned all the basics in French cuisine there.”

Andy was living on people’s sofas and after six months decided he was staying so rented with one of the chefs for the next three years.

He then returned to Cumbria to work at Linthwaite House Hotel, where he stayed for around six years working his way up to sous chef under Simon Bolsover. It led to the offer of his first head chef position at Miller Howe, where he met his partner Paulina, who was front of house manager, with whom he now has two daughters Rosie, who’s ten, and three-year-old Matilda.

While at Miller Howe the couple had the honour of cooking for and serving Her Majesty The Queen when she visited the Lakes in 2012, presenting a lunch of potted shrimps and smoked salmon, Lakeland lamb with a lamb cottage pie and lemon tart. Normally placid and calm, he admits it was the one occasion he was stressed, but his special guest and her party must have enjoyed because by way of thanks he and Paulina were invited to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party.

He says he cooking for the Queen was the pinnacle of his time at Miller Howe, where stayed for seven and a half years. Incidentally, the Black Swan has also welcomed a royal visitor, King Charles coming when he was Prince of Wales.

His next iconic venue was the Lakes Distillery where he worked with renowned North East restaurateur Terry Laybourne to open its bistro. “It was good to be involved with developing it right from the beginning when it was still an old cattle yard. Seeing Terry’s restaurant concept work was another eye opener, and I really enjoyed it. I loved working there, but it was over an hour from home and eventually the drive got too much.”

His colleague Andy Nicholson at Linthwaite House had by now moved down the hill to Storrs Hall, on the shore of Windermere, and asked Andy to join him.

After the pandemic, it was decided to add to the Lake Edge restaurant with a less formal Bistro option developed from the former kitchens and with lake views. It was an immediate hit. Andy also designed the new, state of the art kitchen with separate passes for each dining room.

It hasn’t even been open a year yet, so it is not surprising that people were shocked at Andy’s departure, but as Scott discovered, moving to the Black Swan offers a chef generous autonomy to indulge their creativity and ‘take ownership’ as Louise says.

“I have never been more excited,” confirms Andy. “I had a great job at Storrs at a great hotel but I just felt I wanted a change. A friend messaged me about Scott moving on and said the job had my name written all over it. From the moment I came to see Scott and he showed me round I want away and rang my wife to say it just felt right.

“Scott’s food is great and my style; he calls it ‘no frills’. People know what they are eating, but it’s incredibly well done and I’ve always followed places like that and like to cook that sort of food myself.

“I also want to be able to be ‘the face’ of the food, to step out of the kitchen and meet our guests, which you don’t get to do from a hotel kitchen.”

Black Swan Ravenstonedale (Image: Sheenah Alcock) He and Louise have worked on how to expand the dining choices for walkers and guests visiting on one of the pub’s established short breaks. The Black Swan has worked with National Geographic for many years and groups running speciality trips, for example, retreats or walking holidays.

It has 16 bedrooms and three yurts and some guests return two or three times a year simply for a relaxing getaway.

“Even when we are full it still feels very calm and quiet because we aren’t a bustling place like the Central Lakes,” says Louise. “We are looking at creative retreat breaks in winter, maybe focused around art or crafting. I’m always trying to think of ways to bring people to the village because when they come they love it.”

As well as the local scenery and locations like nearby Smardale viaduct and nature reserve to paint or sketch, Scar Gallery in the village recently reopened.

Similarly, diners can choose where to eat, whether it be the bar, the formal dining room, one of the lounges or outdoors in simmer in the garden across the road on the banks of Scandal Beck.

Along with Andy, Philippa Ashworth has joined as general manager from The Highwayman, near Kirkby Lonsdale, and her husband James will be Andy’s sous chef.

Louise says: “They can alter the décor, move tables around, I want them all to treat it like their own.”

Several of Andy’s hotel colleagues are keen to follow to continue working with him, which is evidence of his popularity and nice nature says Louise.

For his part, Andy says: “I do feel lucky that we’ve got people who want to work with me, but I’ve always found that it’s nice to be nice and that’s when you get the best from people.”

Louise says the door will always be open to people who want to call for a drink, or even just to use the loo.

Lunch will be served seven days from noon-2.30pm. Louise says: “For the past two years we’ve been closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays which was disastrous for our overnight bookings because guests don’t want to stay when the kitchen is closed. We’re hoping by serving food seven days will encourage people to come for mid-week breaks.

“We also used to close for two weeks in October, but we’re not doing that any more either. We will be open right through, except on Christmas Day when our staff can be with their families. Andy says the chance to have Christmas off was the cherry on the top.”

She also hopes that refreshed dinner options, from 6pm-9pm, as well as Sunday lunches will appeal to local people.

Louise adds: “The Black Swan was a coaching inn, it was the place where people stopped and rested. That’s what we are still, but with the chance to enjoy great food too.”

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Scott Fairweather at the Black Swan (Image: Leah Rushton Photography)

From the Swan to the seaside

For Scott Fairweather, leaving the Black Swan has not just been about giving up his job of eight years, it has also meant leaving the village where he lived with his partner Leah and their daughter River and his “second mum” Louise Dinnes.

“It’s clear how much the Black Swan means to me and what Louise means to me. She basically handed me a pub and trusted me to do what I wanted, and I have really enjoyed it, but it’s about location now for us as a family.”

He has left without having a job to go to which, he says, is how he likes to do it. “I like to be 100 per cent committed to the end – it’s what I did at the Punch Bowl [at Crosthwaite, where he worked for six years] and it’s just my style. I can have a break then look to something else with full commitment.

“It seems risky, especially with a child this time; this is the big one. But the industry is in such a place at the moment where there’s always going to be too much work. I’m not worried about finding the work, but I do want it to be the right thing.”

With his reputation, many a restaurant would love to have him. But although Scott says he has no specific plans, it is likely his next challenge will be his own venture.

Scott's famous cheese souffle (Image: Sheenah Alcock) “I’m probably at the right stage where everyone expects – and I expect myself – to open my own place, so it’s something I have to look into or I might regret it, or it would be a case of having a very long discussion with an employer.”

The first option seems the most likely since the family already has a property close to where they are moving to in Arnside.

“It would be small, just me and Leah, something we could do on our own and be more towards a café doing brunch and maybe simple dinners a couple of evenings a month, bistro style. There’s ambition for that; nothing is set in stone, but I think I know what I want.”

He adds: “We’re always going out for lunch now, whether it’s to Homeground or Levens Kitchen, and that’s what excites me. I think people like that style because it’s affordable and decent quality. I think that’s why I’m so excited about it because it’s what I enjoy eating.

“My style of cooking is to find a balance between the café-brunch and the pub, and I believe I can do a stirling job.”

For the moment, he wishes Andy well. “It’s ended happily,” he says. “Andy’s a very, very good chef and I would have been upset if I hadn’t found someone good like him.”