Spread Eagle, Sawley, 01200 441202

Being fleet of foot is a distinct advantage in the hurly-burly of running a successful pub and restaurant. Ysanne Williams, who runs the Spread Eagle at Sawley with husband Nigel, has a head start - she used to be a ballet dancer.

Ysanne trained at Manchester's Northern Ballet School and toured Italy before starting her own dance agency. A bad back led to a new career path in newspaper publishing before she and Nigel bought the Spread Eagle just over six years ago.

The couple set about reviving the reputation of the inn, which was one of the Ribble Valley's top places back in the 60s. ‘You wouldn't say the place was on its knees when we arrived, but it wasn't far off. It was quite scary at first but we have really enjoyed building up the business and we really haven't looked back.’

Their arrival in the Ribble Valley coincided with foot and mouth and, while that had a horrendous impact on the countryside, it did mean they had a chance to get to grips with a strange business during a relatively quiet period.

Since then, it has been anything but quite with the Spread Eagle picking up a stream of awards, including one of the Lancashire Life trophies last year.

‘The Spread Eagle seems to have won an award every year. We are really chuffed by the success - it's a great credit to the team,’ said Ysanne. Their combination of good service and high quality modern England and Mediterranean cooking has been receiving rave reviews - along with the tremendous panoramic views of the Ribble from the dining room.

A new a la carte menu has now kicked in and Nigel and Ysanne have put together a series of theme evenings which have been stirring up interest. These have include a bistro night and a Cloudy Bay wine evening in May - and, appropriately for Ysanne, they even staged ballroom dancing classes at the 17th century inn when

Strictly Come Dancing fever was at its height.