THANKS to a winter bug followed swiftly by a rotten cold (if I were a man, it would have been flu at least) I've had two bedridden days in the past week, subsisting on a diet of Lemsip Max and that cough mixture which is advertised on telly by an operatic bull.

Food has hardly figured, apart from all the nuts in the five boxes of tissues I've been through. 

Seriously. My balsam tissues have the warning "contains nuts" on their boxes, along with the startling caution: "As with all tissues, do not flush down the toilet." 

What?! I've been flushing tissues down the loo for decades. What on earth could there be in a humble tissue (apart from nuts, perhaps) that can play havoc with your plumbing? 

Such intellectual musings led me to realise that I really need to get out more. So on Wednesday I dragged myself out of bed to honour a long-arranged lunch meeting with some friends. 

We convened at the Strickland Arms at Sizergh, it being handy for the M6, as our friends were on their way home to Manchester later that afternoon. 

The pub was full when we arrived, but luckily we had booked, so settled ourselves at our allocated table in front of a window and began the important task of catching up on each other's news. 

We mixed and matched from the specials menu and the main menu. Gordon fancied garlic mushrooms, so ordered the nearest thing: button mushrooms in a creamy Blacksticks blue cheese sauce, served on a Grange Bakery bloomer (£5.50). 

His old school chum John picked a black pudding stack with sautéed mushroom, bacon, Lancashire cheese and a poached egg (£6.25), John's wife Jane went for a homemade scotch egg with Cumberland sausage, black pudding, mustard mayo and salad (£6.95), while I, still in invalid mode, ordered roasted vegetable soup (£3.95).

 The wait was fairly lengthy - but just on the right side of any of us having to drum our fingers agitatedly on the table, or start piping up "this must be ours, now" - which invariably ends in disappointment. 

But the starters were worth that wait. The black pudding dish looked great in its large white bowl; and John declared it delicious (apart from a slightly unnecessary salad garnish featuring raw onions).

 Jane's scotch egg was tremendous: a perfectly runny egg in a top quality casing of Cumberland sausage. "Seriously good," was her verdict. 

My soup was red hot, smooth, well-seasoned and utterly comforting. But - as is so often the case with soup as a starter in a pub - there was way too much of it. 

Gordon enjoyed the mushrooms but was defeated by the huge hunk of bread that accompanied them.

 The Strickland Arms has a peculiar charm, with its mis-matched furniture (the seating could be more comfortable for my liking), country prints, pairs of Staffordshire pot dogs on the mantelpieces and a mixture of wooden and stone floors.

 Our mains were varied. Fish and chips for John (£12.50), a huge piece of haddock in Thwaite's beer batter, masses of fab chunky chips, mushy peas galore, tartare sauce in abundance: the ultimate pub classic - and done very well indeed.

 Jane went for a fish pie (£11.95) served with "seasonal greens" which included some seasonal orange in the shape of some carrots. The pie was creamy and rich, packed with salmon, cod and haddock.

 So far on the fish dish front, two hits. 

Gordon's made it three out of three, with a salmon fillet with buttered kale, sautéed potatoes, white wine sauce and a crispy soft boiled egg (£14.95). 

The salmon was a beautiful pink inside, well cooked and complemented by the egg. 

I had chosen another comfort food type of dish: homemade cheese and onion pie with hand cut chips and salad (£10.95). 

The pie was hand-raised and looked great. A classic cheese and onion pie in my book is made with a firm cheddar or perhaps Red Leicester. This pie, however, was made with a very salty (too salty) cheese which was just too sophisticated for the dish. 

It was also the wrong texture, having virtually melted into liquid, all of which made for a pie which was somewhat less successful than its appearance suggested.

However, it was one tiny blip in an overall excellent lunch. Good food, charming surroundings and great company - it doesn't get much better than that. 

We said our goodbyes and headed off in different directions having thoroughly enjoyed our leisurely lunch at the Strickland Arms.

Food 4 

Service 3.5 

Value 4 

Atmosphere 4

Pros

Local produce 

Plenty of parking 

On a quiet road but close to A590/M6

Cons

Some uncomfortable seating 

Very busy during holiday season 

Fires unlit

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