Manor House, Oxen Park, near Ulverston

THE festive jumpers were out in force this week, when I, my husband and some friends headed deep into rural LA12 for a bar meal.

We were bound for the Manor House at Oxen Park, which has recently re-opened after a major refurb.

The Manor was once very much a local pub for local people. Not exactly in a League of Gentleman , Royston Vasey Edward and Tubbs way – but still the sort of pub that seemed barely known outside the immediate environment. It was a good 30 years since I had been there, and it's fair to say I hardly recognised the place.

There is nothing remotely spit and sawdust about the Manor these days; it's been done up very smartly in muted colours and understated decor, with a clever nod in the loos to the rusticity of the area – I would describe it as timber yard chic.

Our group of four settled in a very snug booth, with my husband in his Santa jumper penned in the corner and thoroughly outnumbered by females, all of whom found it remarkably easy to resist the urge to sit on his knee and tell him what good girls we've been this year.

The menu at the Manor is not huge – but it covers all the bar meal staples one would expect, and there are daily specials available. Between us, we ordered baked brie with a spice apricot and cranberry chutney, garlic mushrooms and tempura and filo prawns for starters, all at £5.95. They were all very good.

My mushrooms were earthy (in a good way), in a rich sauce and with lovely granary toast for dunking purposes. Gordon and Jackie loved the prawns, which were large and tender, while Eleanor thoroughly enjoyed her baked brie.

For mains, we all went for something different. Gammon and pineapple for Jackie (£13,95), scampi (£12.95) for Eleanor, beer-battered cod (£11.95) for me and poached haddock and scallops (£16.95) from the specials board for Gordon.

By this point the pub was busy for a Tuesday night – although hardly surprising given that it's effectively Christmas week – and we got chatting to the local ladies in the booth behind us, who were enjoying their festive outing to the Manor as much as we were.

We all liked the festive decorations, particularly the fairy light-bedecked twigs on the ceilings. I say "we all" but to be honest, I could tell that Gordon – what with him being a man and all – wasn't really interested and was wearing that vacant look peculiar to males when in the company of groups of women discussing the merits of soft white fairy lights over ice white, and whether static lights are preferable to twinkling (I'm a static girl, all the way).

Our mains arrived promptly and all were very attractively presented. The women's bar meal staples were all as good as one would expect. Good quality fish and scampi, a huge gammon steak (half of which went home in my handbag for our doggies) and fab chips.

Gordon's special was excellent: lovely poached haddock on a bed of savoury rice, with a rich sauce and plenty of scallops. He was very impressed.

We forced down a couple of puds for testing purposes. Gordon devoured a piping hot apple crumble, while the rest of us nobly tucked into a chocolate brownie with a very good ice cream to go with it.

With a couple of bottles of Pinot Grigio, our bill came to £115, which was good value for the quality of the food we had.

The service had been efficient and friendly throughout, with the young staff both charming and helpful. The Manor House at Oxen Park is enjoying a much-deserved renaissance. It's a lovely, friendly, rural pub, which is smart without being in any way pretentious, and which serves excellent food.

We'd all thoroughly enjoyed our festive meal – even poor old outnumbered-by-females, designated driver, Santa.

BY LOUISE ALLONBY

Ratings (out of five):

Food 4.5

Atmosphere 4

Value 4

Service 4.5

Pros:

Rustic charm

Pub classic meals

Friendly staff

Cons:

Off the beaten track – unless you're a local

Designated driver need (Santa jumper optional)