Wooded hillside forms a pleasing backdrop to this ‘comfortable country hotel’ in an ‘optimal position’ for exploring the northern Lakes.

‘Warm and friendly’, and ‘good value’ to boot, Louise Dinnes’s Victorian pub-with-rooms stands in a conservation village surrounded by a national parkland of windswept fells.

‘Good beer’, ‘excellent food’, ‘nice bedrooms’ and a ‘relaxing ambience’ win admirers at Richard Rose’s ‘fantastic’ 300-year-old inn in the bucolic Lyth valley.

A meander from the River Lune, this 17th-century inn by the old churchyard in the historic market town reserves a special welcome for walkers and their dogs.

Laid-back and friendly, with a side of sweet potato fries, this refurbished 18th-century roadside inn is liked for its superior pub grub and handsome accommodation.

Becky and Ash Dewar’s popular village pub ‘with a modern twist’ is in a 16th-century coaching inn in the Lyth valley.