The Miner's Arms is reputed to be one of the most haunted buildings in Britain, perhaps not altogether unsurprisingly when you consider that the village of Eyam put itself into quarantine during the Great Plague, at the end of which only 90 of its 350 inhabitants remained alive. In happier times the pub has served as a meeting place for the Barmote Court, the gathering which sorted out disputes amongst the local lead-mining community.

Nowadays another son of Derbyshire, fresh from his success at Skibo Castle, the Scottish resort for the incredibly and almost entirely nouveau rich, has returned to familiar pastures, there to reconnect with honesty in gastronomy. His name is Ashleigh Hooton.

As a result it looks as though simple unpretentious food is to be the order of the day, with dishes drawn extensively from France, the Mediterranean and North Africa. A great admirer of Rick Stein, it seems not unlikely that the fish van will be regularly finding its way to the centre of England. So watch out for Moroccan tagines and the simplicity of Stein's fish dishes with their built in dislike of over-handling the basic ingredient.

Quite how the unquiet spirits of the Miner's Arms will take to all this has yet to be seen, but my guess is that the live inhabitants will be beating a path to Ashleigh's door with great despatch.