Seen through the lens of Michael Winterbottom, director of The Trip, now showing on BBC2, the north of England has rarely looked so imposing. Add the idea of punctuating days in Lancashire, the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales with long lunches at a swanky restaurants, the way Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon do, and a tour of the area becomes even more appealing. There is only one problem: money. At L'Enclume and Hipping Hall, the duo's bills topped £150, which, unless a fictional version of the Observer Magazine has agreed to cover your expenses, is no laughing matter.
But there's more to northern gastronomy than fine dining, and there are even, if you're canny, ways of getting close to its Michelin stars at a fraction of the cost. Here's the Guardian's guide to taking The Trip on a budget.
Lancashire: Forest of Bowland
You can understand why The Trip started at the Inn at Whitewell (01200 448222, innatwhitewell.com). Bang in the middle of the Forest of Bowland, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this 14th-century manor house and coaching inn amid a tangled wood is remote, rambling and very beautiful. Historically, the food here has been reliably hearty, rather than outstanding. So, instead of dropping £93.80 on three courses in the riverside dining room, à la Coogan and Brydon, eat in one of the bar areas, where you can enjoy a small plate of, say, crispy confit Goosnargh duck leg from nearby Longridge with bubble and squeak and tip-top Bowland Brewery ale for £10pp.
That focus on local produce is typical. This area, and the Ribble Valley particularly, is home to one of the country's most vibrant food scenes. Myriad small farmer-producers, such as Leagram's organic cheeses (leagramorganicdairy.co.uk) and Mrs Dowsons ice-cream (mrsdowsons.com), work closely with the valley's pubs and restaurants.
A key catalyst in this move towards local, seasonal ingredients is chef Nigel Haworth. His Michelin-starred Northcote (01254 240555, northcote.com) in Langho, near Blackburn, offers a £25 set lunch (a steal), and his pub, the Three Fishes in Whalley, near Clitheroe (01254 826888, thethreefishes.com), has mains from around £10. Other notables include a deli-cafe, Food by Breda Murphy, (01254 823446, foodbybredamurphy.com, also in Whalley); the Lower Buck pub in Waddington (01200 423342, lowerbuckinn.co.uk), which is good for superior sandwiches and full meals; and the excellent Red Pump Inn in Bashall Eaves (01254 826227, theredpumpinn.co.uk), whose slow-roasted Pendle pork belly (£13.95) is exceptional.
Incidentally, the Pump's three bedrooms are warmly contemporary and, while not cheap at £95, are good value. If there are a few of you, the Coach House, a self-catering cottage on a working farm (sleeps four; three nights from £270; 01254 826285, cloughbottom.co.uk) is a good option, not least for the homemade teabread and Lancashire cheese in the welcome hamper. For further supplies and details of farm shops/food centres, see ribblevalleyfoodtrail.com
Lake District: Cartmel
No, it is not L'Enclume proper. At Rogan and Company (01539 535917, roganandcompany.co.uk), you will not be served, as Coogan and Brydon so memorably put it, an innovative, left-field amuse with the "consistency of Ray Winstone's snot". However, Simon Rogan's spin-off brasserie does offer an entry-level insight into the chef's rigorous culinary sensibility via a menu of crowd-pleasers such as fish pie or a gourmet burger, and smooth, elegant dishes, such as roast venison with creamed cabbage, chestnut and caramelised pear (mains from £10.50). It's also an opportunity to taste some of the vegetables and herbs that Rogan grows at nearby Howbarrow farm.
Like Rogan's stylish restaurants, Cartmel is pretty hip for the Lake District. There are the ubiquitous craft and gift shops, and a couple of excellent traditional pubs, such as the King's Arms (01539 536220) and the Royal Oak (rooms £70; 01539 536259, royaloakcartmel.co.uk), where you can nurse a pint of Hawkshead or Barngates by an open fire. But, equally, Cartmel has modish food shops such as the Bread Shed (01539 533839, breadshed.co.uk) and Cartmel Cheeses (01539 532845, cartmelcheeses.co.uk), and sensitively modernised self-catering properties like Longlands, a secluded courtyard of cottages around an early-19th-century country house (weekend breaks for two from £150; ainscoughs.co.uk). If you are self-catering, stock up en route at Low Sizergh Barn (01539 560426, lowsizerghbarn.co.uk) farm shop, which you'll pass coming from junction 36 on the M6, or at Cartmel Village Shop (01539 536280, cartmelvillageshop.co.uk), famous for its sticky toffee pudding.
Coogan and Brydon headed on from Cartmel to Holbeck Ghyll at Windermere (01539 432375, holbeckghyll.com). Chef David McLaughlin's refined Michelin-starred food is of a piece with the old-school, oak-panelled restaurant, best experienced, if you're keeping a nervous eye on your credit card bill, at lunch (two courses £24).
Cumbria, Lancashire and the Yorkshire Dales: Kirkby Lonsdale
On The Trip, Kirkby Lonsdale itself was bypassed in the rush to get to nearby Hipping Hall (Sunday lunch £29.50; 01524 271187, hippinghall.com). That was a mistake. This attractive market town is home to the exemplary Churchmouse Cheeses (01524 273005, churchmousecheeses.com) – perhaps the only cheese shop in the country with its own Saturday afternoon pianist – a first-rate butcher, Dales (01524 271278, dalesbutchers.co.uk), and the self-explanatory Chocolat (01524 272830, chocolatemine.co.uk).
The Sun Inn (mains from £13.95; 015242 71965, sun-inn.info) and boutique restaurant-with-rooms Plato's (pasta mains from £9.95, others £12.95; 01524 274180, platoskirkbylonsdale.co.uk) are good places to refuel after shopping or to bed down for the night (doubles from £100). Steve Coogan would surely approve of Plato's serving breakfast until 2pm. Both offer cheaper, snackier bar food during the day, with an emphasis on local ingredients such as Lune Valley steaks and Lakeland lamb.
Just outside Kirkby is another of chef Nigel Haworth's pubs: the Highwayman (01524 273338, highwaymaninn.co.uk). In fact, between the Three Fishes, the Highwayman and the Bull at Broughton (thebullatbroughton.com) near Skipton, you could pretty much shadow The Trip's route eating exclusively at Ribble Valley Inns pubs. This would be no bad thing.
Alternatively, follow Coogan and Brydon's route down into the Dales, to the Michelin-starred Yorke Arms (lunch, three courses, £30; 01423 755243, yorke-arms.co.uk) and the Angel Inn at Hetton (01756 730263, angelhetton.co.uk). The Angel is a fine example of a phenomenon that Yorkshire (a part of the world that never wants to be too far away from a perfect pint of Black Sheep, even while eating fine food) has made its own: the polished, ambitious dining pub. See also, the Star Inn at Harome (01439 770397 , thestaratharome.co.uk); Pipe & Glass Inn in South Dalton, near Beverley (01430 810246 , pipeandglass.co.uk); and the General Tarleton at Ferrensby (01423 340284, generaltarleton.co.uk). Given their pub origins, such venues usually offer affordable food, in some form. The Angel's bar menu runs from posh sandwiches at around £7 to gussied-up pub dishes like lamb hotpot at £14.25.
