A salty tale in North Yorkshire

Where once many years ago in medieval times the corridors and staircases of The White Swan Inn at Pickering, North Yorkshire, echoed to the sounds of panic and haste in the headlong rush to hide the precious commodity of salt from the prying eyes of the dreaded Excise men, now the only place you’re likely to find any salt in this tranquil hotel is on the tables of the restaurant or in the kitchens.

Originally built in 1532 as a four-room cottage in the centre of the market town of Pickering, The White Swan Inn was soon extended and pressed into service as a coaching inn for the York to Whitby stagecoach. The Inn was also the haunt of smugglers moving salt from the coastal town of Whitby, via Saltersgate in Pickering to the thriving medieval city of York.

Still visible at the side of the building are the joist stones that once supported an aerial walkway and a small entrance to the property next door. This secret passageway was used as an escape route by the smugglers who would transfer their haul of salt next door when the Excise men came searching.

Salt has been a highly prized commodity since prehistoric times, and this importance in daily life has given rise to many sayings still in use today, ‘worth his salt’, and ‘salt of the earth’, and indeed the word ‘salary’ is derived from the phrase ‘salt money’ or ‘salarium’ which was paid to Roman soldiers.

Salt is still a vital factor in high class cuisine today, but too much or too little can be critical to our health, a fact of which Head Chef, Darren Clemmit, is keenly aware. “For this reason,” he says, “we only use the highest quality Maldon salt as a condiment on our tables, so that our restaurant customers can add as little or as much as they like or need to the carefully prepared and seasoned, balanced dishes that we serve”.

The White Swan Inn is famed for its first class restaurant and extensive wine list, with devotees travelling from miles around to sample the delights of dining at this old hotel, now luxuriously re-furbished to offer beautifully furnished and decorated bedrooms and comfortable public rooms. Just across the courtyard, the stable block which would have housed horses and grooms many years ago, has been converted into 8 stunning new rooms.

Contemporary in style with state-of-the-art fixtures and furnishings these 7 double bedrooms and 1 split-level suite offer a complete contrast to the main hotel. Coolly elegant York stone floors, luxurious beds and linens, en-suite shower rooms and the latest in CD, DVD, and flat-screen TV technology are all the order of the day.

Great emphasis is also placed on using the produce of local suppliers in their offered menus, such as the nearby Ginger Pig organic meat farm, whose supply to the hotel is just one of 5 in the whole country and the only one outside of London.

It’s the atmosphere that makes the White Swan Inn such a wonderful place to stay; roaring fires, a cosy bar, comfy snug and the stylish Club Room make visitors return again and again. Now travellers arrive from all over the world by rail, air and car, but there’s always a warm welcome and a promise that the Excise men certainly won’t be calling!

For more information and reservations, visit White-swan.co.uk.