A GENEROUS publican, a humble priest and a French olive oil maker reminded me of the joy of a lost art - the long Sunday lunch.

The private dining room of the refurbished York Hotel in York - 90km east of Perth - accommodated two long white tables at which artistic, music, and travel agent types were slowly stuffed with simple fare.

Father Peter Molds, York's Anglican priest for 30 years, said grace against the backdrop of the town's history, a sombre tale of white settlement by artist John Feeney.

Feeney's work was purchased by the owner John Hay for posterity - a way of keeping the collection in York. It is based on the writing of the pastor's wife Janet Millet in 1863 titled, The Settler and the Savage.

Olive oil maker Arnaud Courtin talked up the French sin of infusing oils with other tastes, but his lemon olive oil is a delight and, as he says, a celebration of Australian inventiveness.

The broad menu started with bread and local olive oils, tapenade, pate, prawns and very softly fried squid.

Soft pork belly was rolled out with chutney, beef, two simple salads: tomato and boccicini and Caesar, then baked Atlantic salmon in puff pastry and spinach.

Hay saw too many old buildings in Perth demolished over the years and decided to buy The York in 1997.

The original turret, pediments and verandahs had been removed, the tuckpoint brickwork rendered and tiles glued to the outside of the building.

The linoleum was lifted to reveal the floorboards, the ceilings and cornices uncovered and the place brought back to life, including the original magnificent terrazzo floor entrance.

We got a tour of the cellar, a testimony to the owners' style and sense of humour - telling in caricature the story of the remodelling, carried out by a local builder.

Two million dollars later sees a renovated pub and the jewel in John and Karen Hays' investment - the 114 year-old former school, a stone's throw from the pub courtyard.

The long rooms with broad white light and clever colonial ventilation will house artists at work, a conference venue, additional rooms for the hotel and a 12-month calender of events: showing the Hays' vision and desire for a lively future for the town.

It was here in the lofty rooms that Father Mold told the tale of his arrival in York, finding three dead clocks, three empty churches and three pubs at his disposal, a story that would be one worth hearing again.

Primed with coffee, we filled the front bar before taking a tour of the six upstairs rooms, most of them opening on to the York's generous balcony over Avon Terrace.

The only disappointment here was the furnishings: the blue plush carpet was divine but too rich against the almost 80s-style bedroom fabric and the accommodation left me wishing I had been more surprised.

We descended the stairs to dessert: bite-sized tarts of lemon or strawberry; lemon sugar circles and small iced-up numbers straight from Marie Antoinette's bodice.

Even at Jazz Festival time, there's not much else to take in at York except the swinging bridge, a riverside diner serving Chico Rolls and the stately buildings of Avon Terrace.

But all a town needs is one good hotel and John Hay has provided that.

IF YOU GO:

The York, 90 km from Perth, 145 Avon Tce, York, 6302. Call: (08) 9641-2188.

* The writer was a lunch guest of The York.

AAP