Our story

The Pheasant Inn: a farmhouse, a family and forty years

The Pheasant Inn has been run by the Kershaw family since 1985 — but this building has been the heart of Stannersburn for nearly four hundred years.

The beginning

From farmhouse to inn

Dating back to around the mid-1600s, the building was originally a farmhouse at the hub of the community. People gathered here socially, welcomed by the farmer and his family. Over time it became known locally as ‘The Crown Inn’, because the Royal Mail was delivered here.

From the outside it is a picture-postcard Northumberland country inn. Inside, it has a warm country charm and homely atmosphere: open fires, exposed stone walls, oak beams, a traditional bar and an eclectic mix of Northumberland memorabilia.

1985

The Kershaws arrive

In 1985 The Crown Inn was a rather run-down country pub in need of some TLC. Walter and Irene Kershaw fell in love with the place and worked hard to restore and transform it. The Pheasant Inn was born.

The bars and dining room were carefully refurbished, and eight en-suite bedrooms were developed in the adjoining barn and hayloft. In 2016 came Garden Cottage, a self-contained holiday cottage a few yards from the pub.

Today the inn is still run by the family, with the same aims it started with: good food cooked from scratch, comfortable rooms, and a proper welcome for whoever comes through the door — walkers off the Pennine Way, stargazers on their way back from the Observatory, and the regulars who’ve been coming for decades.

From the family

“This place has been our family’s life for forty years, and we still feel proud every time someone walks through the door. It’s more than a pub. It’s where neighbours catch up, where local farmers and suppliers fill our kitchen, and where guests from far and wide end up feeling like regulars. We just try to look after it, and everyone in it, the way it deserves.”

Angela Kershaw, The Pheasant Inn

Recognition

Awards and recognition

AA 4 Gold Star Inn

Rated 4 Gold Stars by the AA, with the AA Breakfast Award and Dinner Award.

Alastair Sawday's

A long-standing Sawday’s inn — “the attention to detail is staggering”.

VisitEngland 4 Star Inn

Rated a 4 Star Inn by VisitEngland, with a Silver Award and a Breakfast Award.

VisitEngland quality schemesWalkers, cyclists and families welcome

★★★★★

“The Kershaws’ cooking is fresh, generous and flavoursome, producing wholesome traditional English fare.”

The Pub Guide

Rated 4.7 on Google and TripAdvisor · Read more reviews →

Stay with us

Be part of the story

Forty years on, the welcome is just the same. Stay in one of our eight en-suite rooms or Garden Cottage, eat with us by the fire, and see why so many guests keep coming back.

Family-run since 1985
AA 4 Gold Star
Best rates booking direct