‘Nothing could have prepared us for the beauty of Wold Cottage, where Katrina welcomed us with warmth and kindness.’ A trusted reader echoes our inspectors’ endorsement for Katrina and Derek Gray’s Georgian manor house B&B in a rural setting outside a small village. Bedrooms, two in a converted barn, are named after former manor residents, and individually designed, some elegant and traditional, some more contemporary. Spacious, west-facing Miss Davy has ‘a super-king-size bed with brass headpost, marble fireplace, and full-length, thick gold curtains’. The ‘spotless’ bathroom had a freestanding bath, walk-in shower and high-quality toiletries including home-made lavender soap. On a chilly spring day a ‘roaring log and coal fire made for a homely environment’ in the sitting room, its walls hung with ‘tasteful original art and prints’. Breakfast brings Filey kippers and smoked haddock, traditional butcher’s sausages, free-range eggs, home-made jams, local honey. In a nearby field, on the spot where a meteorite fell in 1795, stands a commemorative column built by Major Edward Topham of Wold Cottage – who in turn is commemorated in a four-poster suite. (Dorothy Latham)