Frances clocks up 20 years at the Feversham Arms (From Gazette & Herald)

Frances clocks up 20 years at the Feversham Arms

ONE of Ryedale's longest serving pub landladies, Frances Debenham, has celebrated 20 years of running the legendry Feversham Arms in picture-postcard Farndale.

She reopened the historic inn after it was shut when no-one wanted to take it on after much of Farndale was bought by housebuilding tycoon Sir Lawrie Barrett.

But after many hours of hard work renovating the more than 200-year-old inn's bars, restaurants and bedrooms, it opened its doors again to Farndale's many walkers, shooting parties and locals.

Then, five years later, she found herself facing the biggest crisis - the foot and mouth outbreak which saw business come almost completely to a halt with little more than a couple of pounds going into the till some weeks as the tourists gave it the cold shoulder.

She battled on and the business gradually came back.

"It's just about back to what it was before the outbreak of the disease," said Frances. She ran special events to attract customers and word quickly spread of her culinary skills.

She extended her catering and now is able to accommodate some 88 diners as well as others in the old bar with its roaring fire and walls bedecked with horse brasses and rural memorabilia.

"I just love living here. Running the inn isn't a job - it's a way of life," said Frances, who had no experience of the licensed trade before moving to Farndale from Leeds. "I'd never pulled a pint till I came here," she laughed.

"It took five years to build up the business but I have had many loyal customers who have spread the word, especially about the restaurant."

As well as proving a popular local landlady, Frances has won much acclaim for raising thousands of pounds for charity through events at the inn plus adventures such as last year's 15,000 ft parachute jump in aid of St Martin's Hospice. This year she is going to abseil down the Humber Bridge.

With the new season curtain rising with the blooming of Farndale's famous daffodils in the next two or three weeks, she is now preparing for this year's invasion of tourists.

Updated: 11:49 Wednesday, March 22, 2006