The Buchanan family has run this ‘heart-warming’ hotel for two generations, but, bar two short breaks, it has been a local hostelry since the 16th century.

‘Arriving on a wet Sunday afternoon I was immediately made to feel welcome,’ writes a trusted reader who spent four happy nights at this old Dales village drovers’ inn.

‘Informal and friendly’, Jane Ratcliffe’s ‘utterly peaceful’ B&B stands on a hillside overlooking rolling Yorkshire countryside.

‘Excellent standards are being maintained,’ confirms a Guide trusty this year, after staying at this village inn with rooms overlooking the Vale of Mowbray.

Opposite Red Beck, the stream that once powered its machinery, this former mill draws visitors to the wooded Shibden valley.

Michael and Sasha Ibbotson’s village pub-with-rooms has stone flags, wood panelling and log fires – the legacy of three centuries of hosting visitors following an ancient Celtic trail to York.

Janet and Edward Boynton’s 19th-century coaching inn between moors and dales is roundly endorsed by Guide readers, who praise its ‘hospitable, interesting owners’, ‘enjoyable dinners’, ‘relaxing atmosphere’ and ‘excellent value’.

St Mary’s ‘stunning spire’ rises like Jack’s beanstalk – a heavenly marker of the approach to James and Kate Mackenzie’s ‘sublime’ pub-with-rooms.

Across a cobbled driveway, Paul and Helen Klein’s ‘lovely, good-value’ 18th-century inn is an ‘utterly authentic’ slice of rural Wensleydale hospitality.

‘High on the hills’ near Huddersfield, this ‘friendly’ roadside drovers’ inn has ‘detour-worthy food’; ‘tremendous views to all sides’ are nearly as impressive.