Pub gardens come in lots of different shapes and sizes. Some are huge with seating for dozens of people, others are tiny courtyards where its standing room only on a sunny day. The outdoor seating area at Stubbing Wharf in Hebden Bridge is perhaps a little too small to be called a beer garden , yet what it offers is rather special. A handful of picnic tables can be found at the back of the pub right beside the Rochdale Canal towpath, almost within reaching distance of the water. There is additional seating at the front of the pub, but let’s face it, beside the canal is where you want to be. Sitting beside the towpath means you can both enjoy the tranquil calm of the water, while watching the constant activity beside it. Excited dogs run ahead of their owners, noses glued to the ground; cyclists slowly glide past; and the odd goose floats along the water. It's enought to entertain you without distracting you from the peaceful surroundings. Located half an hour from Manchester by train, Hebden Bridge offers a tranquil escape from the city and Stubbing Wharf is one of the town’s hidden gems. Dating back to the 18th-century, the pub famously provided the setting for Ted Hughes’ poem Stubbing Wharfe. Today it's a welcome pitstop beside the canal for walkers and cyclists, set apart from the main town Although there is a car park, the best way to reach this pub is with a walk along the canal, working up an appetite in the process. At lunchtime on a sunny spring day, I made a beeline for the last empty table outside the canal, the others already filled up with poeple tucking into pub lunches and crisp pints. The pub’s menu is a pleasing affair of comforting pub food like cheese and onion pot pie (£15.95), burgers (the beef burger is £13.95) and sandwiches including roast beef (£11.95). It also serves up a selection of lagers and locally brewed ales. I decided to go for the beer battered haddock with yuzu and dill aioli sandwich (£11.95), along with a pint of locally brewed Vocation beer (£5.20). After I took my seat in the sun my food soon arrived and my face lit up. The sandwich was served with a mountain of chips and red cabbage coleslaw. The chips were hot and crispy, the perfect accompaniment to my pint. I wasn’t sure what to expect with the sandwich as it came served in a ciabatta and can sometimes be too tough when paired with battered fish. Yet this bread was delightfully soft with the right amount of structural integrity for the crisp fish, which was wonderfully flakey on the inside. The aioli provided a nice contrast to the batter, rendering the sachets of tartare sauce I’d grabbed useless. If you get the chance to visit Hebden Bridge on a sunny day, this place is a must. Just make sure you grab a table by the canal. For more of the latest What's On news, click here.