The restaurant reflects the landscapes that surround it — rolling fields, dense pine forests, rugged moors, and dramatic coastline — a natural larder from which to draw ingredients that celebrate the local area.

Cal Byerley, chef and owner, comes from a historic farming family in Northumberland, working the land since 1805. This heritage, along with his deep connection to the region, inspires his cooking, which is rooted in seasonality, foraging, preservation, and fermentation. After starting his career at the Robin Hood Inn, he trained in some of the UK’s top restaurants, including Forest Side and Rogan & Co., where he developed a passion for pastry and bread making.

Ian Waller, head chef at Pine, hails from Saddleworth. Raised in a family passionate about gardening, he began his career in the most prestigious hotels of the North-West and Yorkshire, before joining Forest Side, where his love of sustainable cuisine flourished. It was here he met Cal, beginning a partnership that brought him to the North-East to work with a team united by a shared vision.

Cal and Ian co-create Pine’s menu, using ingredients from the restaurant’s kitchen garden, foraged produce from the surrounding area, and the best Northumberland has to offer. Their dishes are guided by shared principles: celebrating the finest seasonal local ingredients, collaborating with independent suppliers, utilising nose-to-tail butchery, and employing preservation techniques to reduce waste and cook as sustainably as possible.