The Star Inn at Harome

On the edge of the North Yorkshire moors, this postcard-perfect thatched village pub continues to delight with its Michelin-starred cooking and quirky bedrooms. ‘Wow, what a wonderful place this is!’ It’s divided into two halves: guests dine in the low-beamed pub with its jolly bar, flagged floors and smart, but unstuffy dining rooms, and sleep across the road in farm buildings converted into characterful bedrooms. With beams and odd shapes, they’re modern-rustic in style, with country-scene wallpapers, chunky furniture and eclectic objects – riding boots, a piano, even a snooker table. ‘We were bowled over by the lovely rooms.’ A hunting lodge-style lounge is the place to ‘sit by the log stove with a whisky from the honesty bar’. But it’s Andrew Pern’s ‘modern Yorkshire’ cooking that is the main event. Championing local produce, he produces flavour-dense dishes of unusual combinations such as black treacle-glazed duck with lovage tortellini, or cod with Hispi cabbage carbonara. ‘Exceptional. Wonderful-tasting dishes, well presented.’ ‘Sensational’ breakfasts are served at a huge table. (Jonathan Rose, and others)