James Ratcliffe.

James grew up in the village of Ireby in the Lune Valley, which was to later play a significant part in his upbringing and his love of food. As a youngster James would spend time baking with his mum, especially when he was off from school, alongside this he could also be found out and about in the fields and lanes around his home foraging for fruit with his gran.

As you might imagined both experiences were to play a significant part in his developing love affair with food… on leaving school James studied at Manchester University picking up occasional work at Henry’s, where he became a bar leader, inevitably this sparked a real interest in the hospitality industry. Over time he found himself working for several renowned Manchester based chefs including Robert Own Brown and John Quilter.

Things changed quite significantly in 2010, when he met his future wife Nina, who at the time was working in a bakery in her home town of Dusseldorf… Nina didn’t go back to Germany, staying in Manchester with James, working in Trove, where the pair set about hatching plans to eventually establish their own street food business.

Their business The Moocher, emerged on Manchester’s food scene in 2012, they initially created and served food from their ex-army field kitchen at farmer’s markets, food festivals and music events across the north. Their food ethos was and is simple, to make use of wild, rare breed, wholesome fresh ingredients.

By 2013 they had secured a regular pitch at Manchester’s monthly trendy ‘Levy Market’, Levenshulme. This allowed the pair to consolidate and look at new business opportunities, including hosting regular pop-up restaurants across Manchester and to add a wedding catering to their business portfolio.

But James had a hankering to head back to the countryside… after the birth of their son in 2014, James and Nina had an opportunity to move back to the Lune Valley. Sedbergh might not seem an obvious choice for the pair but James’s grandparents farmed at Corn Close, Dent, so he knew the area and saw the potential… not only that he was aware of the untapped resource in the form of an abundant larder, brim full of all sorts of fresh ingredients just waiting to be turned into delicious plates of food…

They made the move and established The Three Hares, cafe, bakery and bistro. Unsurprisingly they quickly won several prestigious accolades and attained a listing in the Good Food Guide. In 2016 they were presented with an opportunity to develop another property in Sedbergh, the Black Bull, a former 17th century coaching inn…

After 18-months of extensive refurbishment the luxuriously appointed 18 bedroomed Black Bull opened its doors in 2018, boasting a restaurant focussed on serving an array of delicious dishes crafted from the fresh produce available from the landscape surrounding it. James refers to this as the neck of Britain… Cheshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria.

The resulting dishes crafted in the kitchen are inspired by the fusion of three very different cultures, Nina’s rich Japanese / German heritage and James’s Dales upbringing…