HEAD chef at Skipton' s Woolly Sheep Tom Robertson says he is passionate about food and is always trying to come up with something unusual to please the palates of diners.

And in Wood Pigeon carpaccio, one of the starters on the pub's summer menu, he seems to have come up with a winner.

"It's proving really popular." says Tom, who has been head chef for just over a year. "We take the breast, cut it really thin, and seal it in the pan. add Dijon mustard and herbs, then serve it with a rocket puree and port and blue cheese roulade. It's a great combination of flavours."

The new menu also features four 'chef's signature' dishes, including braised belly pork with black pudding and , for those of more vegetarian disposition, egg noodles with wild mushrooms, designed to make the most of locally produced fresh ingredients, says Tom.

"We like to make use of fresh ingredients as much as we possibly can. We make our own black pudding, for example. The whole menu aims to mix in some premium dishes with pub classics - it's important to do everything well."

Twenty-seven-year-old Tom was born in Ashington, Northumberland - famous as the home town of football legends Bobby and Jack Charlton - and, he says, dabbled in cooking as a teenager.

But it was only when he started work at the Wooly Sheep as a sous-chef, through friends, that he became seriously interested in the culinary arts.

"It was just when TV chefs were starting to become really popular and I started to become more and more engrossed in cookery. I learned by doing it, really, as well as spending a lot of my time reading books then trying to put what I'd learned into practice."

Tom also worked at other restaurants in Skipton and Ilkley, before moving south to try his luck.

He worked with Michelin-starred chef Andrew McLeish at his Chapter One restaurant near London.

Tom, who married Skipton-born wife Beth last year, says: "That was really, really hard work; sometimes a shift could last from 7am until 2 the following morning. But it was fantastic experience. I worked for Peach Pubs in Surrey for a while too, which was also good experience.

"But I started missing the north - it's hard to explain, but there is a difference - and I wanted to come home. I'd stayed friends with The Woolly Sheep's manager Andrew Goodall and when he offered me the chance to become head chef I jumped at it. It was the job I really wanted!"

The pub has plans to expand the restaurant - and the menu, says Tom. "We are constantly looking to improve. The Woolly Sheep has always tried to provide the best quality food in a relaxed environment and I'm keen to carry on that tradition."