Time-honoured

FRANCIS Coulson is concerned about the soup. He can smell it from the office he shares with his partner Brian Sack, and he's not entirely happy with it.

The pair are now into their fifth decade running the breathtakingly situated Sharrow Bay Country House hotel on Ullswater in Cumbria. According to Egon Ronay's Cellnet Guide, which named them Hosts of the Year 1994, the UK's first country house hotel "is still, and always has been, a shining example of British hospitality at its very best". Coulson and Sack, it says, "set standards that others have tried hard to follow".

Today, the hotel has 28 bedrooms, the majority in nearby cottages, and 50 staff. It's a far cry from 1948 when Coulson bought the then private house with a loan from his father, opening the following Easter with just five bedrooms and a small number of staff.

He had always wanted to go into the catering business, but his only experience had been at his sister's hotel in the school holidays. "We started with friends and worked on a community basis. We made our own curtains, attended sales and borrowed furniture from a friend. We had no car, no telephone and electricity was often a problem.

"I was just thrust into the kitchen. Constance Spry, Elizabeth David and other books came to the fore and I learned the hard way. Food was still rationed, but I'm afraid we did use the black market as well. We were lucky with local meat, fish and butter."

Brian Sack left a well-paid career as a chartered surveyor to learn the hotel trade. He heard about Sharrow Bay while working at another hotel and, in 1952, arrived to spend the summer. He and Coulson hit it off and he never left. He says: "Francis was very creative and superb with food, but he didn't like the money side so I took over that and the dining room and office. Our other interests were identical and we both had an intense love of people."

Despite a full kitchen staff and two managers, Coulson and Sack stay fully involved in the hotel's day-to-day running. On Easter Sunday they were up at 6am gathering daffodils and decorating the dining room with chocolate eggs.

Sack says: "We're still doing at least a nine-hour day. We feel it's important that we're with our guests as much as possible. We make a point of going round the dining room each meal time to see everyone and make sure they're happy. When they leave we like to see them off, waving from the front door, not just taking their money."

They believe this interest in their guests is central to their success. Coulson stresses: "Our love of people is genuine, it's not a performance. We like to feel we embrace people from all walks of life. We look upon everyone as a valued member of this house. We try to instill in all our staff that it is vital to nurture, nourish, cosset and care for all our guests."

Sack adds: "Our service is done with graciousness and charm. We teach our staff to say thank you when they put a dish down and take it away. The Americans can never credit it because it just doesn't happen there. You don't even get it in France - they're too professional."

There is an unusually high degree of loyalty among their staff - the head chef and head gardener have been on the payroll for almost 30 years. Coulson admits: "We always say we shouldn't get involved emotionally with our employees, but we do. We look upon them all as our family."

Attention to detail is another important aspect of the Sharrow Bay philosophy. When guests arrive there is a complimentary glass of sherry and a welcoming card. As well as the usual hairdryer, trouser press and TV, there are embroidered sheets, thick bath robes, beautiful ornaments, expensive toiletries, biscuits, sweets, pot plants, books, board games and even a radio-cassette player.

In the evening, beds are turned down and another little note left on the pillow reads: "Sleep happily, gently, comfortably and soothingly, above all enjoy the rest." In the corridor, where shoes can be left for cleaning, huge dishes of fruit are constantly replenished.

Throughout the house and cottages the decor combines grandeur and comfort, with antique furniture, china and glass, plump velvet cushions and fat decorative tassels.

Sack confesses: "We're not very commercial. As fast as money comes in we spend it on Sharrow. Even at this age we've got very little in the bank."

Meals are vast yet intricate, with every dish painstakingly garnished. At breakfast a simple order of bacon and egg includes tomatoes, mushrooms, fried bread and apple rings. Coulsdon and Sack circulate with home-baked croissants and brioche, home-made sausages and black pudding, and take orders for packed lunches.

Lunch is a lavish five courses, while afternoon tea consists of sandwiches, bread and butter, toast, scones, six kinds of cake and biscuits. At dinner, after drinks and canapés, guests are talked through a table of puddings before sitting down to a six-course extravaganza.

British cuisine has always had a place at Sharrow Bay. There are hearty Yorkshire puddings, simple gravies, warming custards, creamy syllabubs and Coulson's own "icky, sticky toffee pudding".

He explains: "Over the years we've moved a little bit towards Continental cooking, but we shouldn't decry the traditional English dishes. I think it is important to use local game, salmon, pork and other ingredients. And our British cakes and pastries are just as good as those made by the French."

Despite their success and advancing years, the pair continually strive to do better. Coulson says: "You can't sit back on your laurels; you've got to live up to people's expectations. As one person leaves, another arrives and we have to be constantly up to scratch. Some days we feel up to the challenge, others we feel a complete failure."

So will they ever retire? He doesn't hesitate. "Certainly not, they'll have to carry us out. We never imagined we'd be here for so long, but what would we be doing if we weren't here? We couldn't visualise life without Sharrow."

And with that he heads off to check the soup. o