‘So glad it’s in your guide – keep it in.’ A strong endorsement this year for Jacquie Pern and Peter Neville’s hotel overlooking a duck pond. It occupies a former smithy, village shop and barns, brought together as one harmonious whole. The bedroom styling is contemporary and confident, busy with patterns. All have a fridge with fresh milk, complimentary sloe gin, Cowshed toiletries. The three lounges are ‘so comfy and well maintained’; one, by the bar, ‘cosy with a designer wood-burner’. There Swim in the indoor pool, or relax on seats under the apple tree. There is a bar and lounge menu, while, in the restaurant, Peter Neville’s menus, for omnivores, vegetarians and ‘chicks’, showcase home-grown and Yorkshire produce, in such dishes as North York Moors pheasant pie, savoy cabbage, roasted quince, barley, smoked butter potatoes. ‘The staff are young, enthusiastic, hard working.’ Pop radio music one night jarred, but breakfast in the conservatory was ‘bathed in Classic FM’. And what a breakfast! ‘Possibly the best ever’, with ‘extensive buffet’, freshly squeezed orange juice. ‘A first-class stay, a lovely place indeed.’ (Peter and Anne Davies, RG)