‘Wow, what a wonderful place this is!’ A regular reader lauded Andrew Pern’s restaurant-with-rooms on the edge of the North York Moors, which has a Michelin star and ambience on tap. At the 14th-century thatched inn ‘one sinks back and is looked after by the very pleasant staff’. Even the background music raised a gentle smile: ‘I sat by the log stove with a whisky, enjoying the likes of Sinatra and Fitzgerald.’ ‘Lovely’ hunting lodge-style bedrooms in converted farm buildings opposite are ‘nicely decorated and spacious’, with ‘very quirky’ touches – a rope-slung bed, a piano, a snooker table. In the restaurant, readers savoured Andrew Pern’s ‘exceptional, wonderfully tasting’ dishes. The refined seasonal menus highlight local, foraged and home-grown ingredients, perhaps twice-baked Stinking Bishop cheese soufflé, red wine shallot relish, hay-roasted pear, grape verjus, crisp wheat; braised navarin of dry-aged Yorkshire Dales mutton, slow-roasted carrots, turnips, roast hazelnut and chicory salad. There are ‘thoughtful’ vegetarian and gluten-free options. Breakfast, served at ‘a large round table, meant everyone chatted’ and was ‘among the best we have ever eaten’. (Steve Hur, Robert Cooper)