Sunday Lunch

Walking into Appleby, our local town, often feels like walking back in time. This is especially the case when we occasionally go for Sunday lunch at the Tufton Arms Hotel.

The Tufton Arms is the main building in the picture with the porch over the front. It was originally a 16th century coaching inn and the entrance to the side, which leads to the back of the hotel would have been the entrance to the stables. It was rebuilt in Victorian times with tall ceilings and stately staircases etc. Walking in now it can feel like going back over a hundred years.

Sunday lunch is served with the grandeur of a bygone age, the centrepiece of which is the carving of the roast beef on a mahogany carving trolley, with a highly polished silver-plated domed cover. This is wheeled to each table as required and the beef carved for individuals.

The thing that amuses us is that next door to the Tufton is Ewbank the Butcher, another long established institution in Appleby. Ewbank supplies the Tufton with the beef and then Mr Ewbank senior and Mrs Ewbank go to the hotel for Sunday lunch and eat their own meat. I'm not sure whether this happens every Sunday, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.