Country pub that's a labour of love; When diners ask the chef which field the lamb came from, he knows he''s got 'local'' right. Alastair Gilmour meets a man setting high standards.: Labour of love that unites top pub team.

IF THEY weren't chefs, Tony Binks and Simon Walsh would make brilliant synchronised swimmers.

They move around the kitchen in the Barrasford Arms, near Hexham, anticipating each other's actions like aquatic Olympians. Years of working together have developed a blend of instinct and awareness that surfaces in choreography and complementary manoeuvre. The result is high-class cooking seasoned with poetry in motion.

"They spend so much time together and know each other so well, people refer to them as Mr and Mrs Binks," says Monica, the real Mrs Binks. "If Tony starts something then turns away, Simon will finish it off - and vice versa."

Binks stepped in and created his vision of "a country pub with restaurant and rooms" at the Barrasford Arms.

That sounds typically modest, but the multi award-winning chef has transformed the handsome 1870s former coaching inn into one of the North East's finest dining locations with three distinctly different dining rooms (it has been awarded Destination Restaurant of the Year while Tony received a Journal Taste award last year). The trick was also to retain traditional watering-hole status for its regulars and revitalise it as a port of call for visitors.

Tony's cooking style is traditionally English with a huge French influence absorbed from his mentor Albert Roux, the great French chef who, with his brother Michel, is regarded as one of the godfathers of modern British cuisine.

Monsieur Roux pays the occasional visit to the North Tyne Valley, trusting that the Binks insistence on high-quality cooking - embracing Northumbrian beef and lamb, seasonal game, North Sea fish, local cheeses and stunning homemade desserts - is still as impassioned as it was when they first met at the Academy of Culinary Arts (Albert Roux was one of the founder members of the branch of the Academie Culinaire de France, the leading association of head chefs, restaurant managers and suppliers). "Albert Roux really gave me the confidence to carry on with my own style by saying what I was doing was correct," says Tony. "From that day I relaxed. Some of my things are old-school - strong flavours and really traditional styles, but our philosophy is still the same; local but heavily French influenced. "Terry Laybourne and I were at the Academy, though we rarely see each other now - chefs are terrible company, we just get stuck into our work." Barrasford is one of those attractive villages where woodsmoke follows you round like a stray dog. And, on a sunny day in November it adds a touch of piquant aroma to an alfresco lunch of game casserole with a richly-sauced venison, earthy rabbit, lumberjack-sized slices of carrot and turnip topped with sweetish dumpling nicely caught around the edges. It's an idyllic spot and on a normal day nothing much happens in the village - 10 minutes' drive from Hexham - although when we described a wedding at the church in neighbouring Chollerton where a guest in morning suit had hopped out of the detached cab of his articulated lorry, nobody thought it strange. But eccentricities are the norm in pubs like the Barrasford Arms where logs glow in the huge fireplace and a horseshoe on the chimney breast looks as though it's been cast for Bucephalus, Alexander The Great's giant steed. There are framed local hunt scenes and photographs of the North Tyne Potato Growers' Association and The Marrow Men. "Normal" in farming communities also means long hours and Tony Binks's daily shift is no different. He says: "A normal day will start at 8am, depending if we've got people staying (the pub has eight en-suite rooms), and then it just rolls into lunch. I order fresh ingredients daily and we cherry-pick from a local organic vegetable farm at Little Harle which delivers twice a week. I'm not hugely hung up on organic, it's the quality I have in mind. Our meat comes mostly from Thompsons at Witton-le-Wear and as they're using the marts at Hexham, Scots Gap etc, it's as local as I can guarantee, and all from a 50-mile radius. "But as soon as I put 'Tony recommends' on the specials board, or if it's lamb from Fell Lane Farm up the road, it flies out.

Then it can't just be local, you've got to single out the farm and give as much information as possible. "We buy fish on a daily basis and choose from what's available. Buying fresh means it'll go on the menu tonight and for tomorrow lunchtime, then by 10 or 11 next day we'll see what else has been landed." In the kitchen the ranges are fired up; staff come and go ferrying plates, dishes, glasses and gravy boats. It's quiet and efficient with everyone knowing their task and getting on with it, such as trainee chef Hugh Hogg who is putting as much concentration into a starter's minitower of greenery as for exams. "Right guys," says Tony as the orders start coming faster. "Doublecheck, count one, two, three, four. There's a gravy going, the bread's gone, are the two gluten-free ready?" A waitress pops back to deliver a compliment. "I've been asked to tell you the rabbit was truly delicious," she says. Later in the bar, Tony appears behind the counter and pours some real ale into a bowl, walking away whilst whisking it into a batter for cod. Appropriately, the beer is Wylam Dognobbler, named after a fishing fly. Other cask-conditioned beers could be High House Farm Auld Hemp, Hadrian & Border Gladiator or Allendale Best Bitter, although many of the regulars swear by McEwan's Best Scotch chased by a dram of Black Bottle whisky. At the age of 27, Tony Binks was the youngest executive chef in Scotland where his domain in Edinburgh's Caledonian Hotel was named Decanter Magazine Restaurant of the Year and twice won Taste of Scotland awards.

He was executive chef at Slaley Hall, similarly at Close House in Northumberland. and now also operates the restaurant at Hexham Golf Club where he personally hosts the private parties and special occasions. The staff there and at Barrasford have worked with him for years - long service seems to be a Binks trademark. "The set-up at the golf club is really good with top-quality food," he says. "The guys have all been with me a long time. "I'm dead relaxed with them and they manage their own areas, but when it comes to service it needs to be effortless because we could be doing nothing then being absolutely hammered and we don't want any distractions. It's not a job; if it was they'd do Monday to Friday like everybody else. It's not a job, it's a lifestyle. "With nearly all my appointments - particularly the young kids - I prefer to take them as a blank canvas with no other influences. All I take is enthusiasm and passion; it's like-minded people, it's how I came in. "I can take a young lad in who's got a little bit of ability, the basics. Hugh worked for three years in pubs and small restaurants but nothing was carved in stone. "He knew an awful lot and actually had big responsibility in the other places but he was open-minded enough to think there's more than one way of doing something. His eyes were opened when he came through the door, he was getting fresh information. "When it's quieter we have time to teach him our way which means basically starting again - the way I want the food to be cooked and the way I like it. "Our menu is ever-seasonal and we put an awful lot of specials up on the board to get more variety, FOOD MATTERS particularly at lunchtime. It could be something as simple as bangers and mash. We had locally-shot partridge and foie gras on at lunchtime two weeks ago. It's pot-luck. "It's there to be used so we get a lot of variations, particularly at this time of the year. Our repertoire is huge but we only have a tiny bit of it on the menu at any one time. "I love making pates and terrines.

I love demonstrating old skills that aren't taught any more. "Making a terrine is one of those things where you put the ingredients together and you cook them with all the care and attention, but you never know what it's going to be like until you take it out of the mould, cut it in half and see the patterns. They can be a work of art - the mystery of that is the not knowing." Tony also hosts gourmet dinners and a ladies luncheon club, but his real soft spot is the banter in the bar. "A pub is only as good as the customers who come in," he says. "All I do is create hospitality. I host the space for them to create a pub." Intuition is natural; synchronicity takes a lot longer. The Barrasford Arms, Barrasford, Northumberland., NE48 4AA. Tel: [phone]. www.barrasfordarms.co.uk THE BARRASFORD ARMS SAMPLE LUNCH MENU Leek and potato soup Black pudding fritter, tomato chutney and nettle cheese salad Summer Isles sweet-cured smoked salmon and lemon mayonnaise Warm salad of local rabbit, apple and pancetta. Slow-cooked beef featherblade in real ale with parsley mash Roast loin of monkfish, lentil, tomato and chorizo stew Mixed game casserole and suet dumpling Little Harle leek and farmhouse cheese cannelloni Sticky toffee pudding and butterscotch sauce Vanilla rice pudding with damson jam Apple and bramble, hazelnut and polenta crumble Farmhouse cheese, chutney and biscuits. Coffee and chocolates. Two-course lunch: pounds 11.50 Three-course lunch: pounds 14.50

CAPTION(S):

DEDICATED Tony Binks, the chef and proprietor of the Barrasford Arms in Barrasford, Northumberland. LOVING ARMS Working at the Barrasford Arms, near Hexham, is not a job but a lifestyle, according to proprietor Tony Binks .