Shallowdale House

Returning guests are received ‘just like old friends’ at this wisteria-clad, light-filled 1960s house with its peerless views over gardens to the Hambleton hills. Run for many years by Phillip Gill and Anton van der Horst – whose afternoon tea and home-made cakes are legendary – its ace card is its picture windows that ensure striking views from every room. ‘Spacious’ bedrooms are full of warm colours, brightly patterned fabrics and a late 20th-century decorative style. Comfortable, with armchairs and books, it has lots of nice touches: pot plants, binoculars, Penhaligon bathroom products, ‘even a bowl of chocolates to dip into while watching the rabbits on the lawn’. The gardens of terraced lawns, borders and shrubberies are a ‘lovely wonder’ and excellent for birdwatching. Dinner (booked ahead), confidently cooked by Phillip, is an event with white napery, fresh flowers and four courses that might include endive gratin, hake with garlic crust and ‘delicious desserts’. Breakfast is similarly satisfying. A ‘deeply relaxing’ stay with ‘care for our welfare and comfort’. (Andrew Warren, Frances Thomas, and others)