Lastingham Grange

The comforting, unchanging nature of this country hotel in a quiet village on the edge of the North York Moors is the big attraction for guests. ‘It was delightful to find the same warm and welcoming hospitality, the same high levels of comfort,’ report readers returning after a 15-year gap. Run by the Wood family for more than 60 years, the wisteria-covered former 17th-century farmhouse with its ‘beautiful garden’ looks across fields to the moors. ‘It is deeply peaceful.’ Interiors are as perennial as the views, with patterned carpets, floral fabrics, open fires and linen tablecloths. Guests are welcomed with home-made scones and tea; walkers will find wet clothes whisked to the drying room. Bedrooms are ‘comfortable’ rather than stylish but pin-neat with ‘wonderful beds’, fresh milk and coffee machines. Food is ‘a real highlight’, the five-course dinner perhaps starting with hot smoked salmon salad – ‘so good I had it again for lunch’ – followed by braised venison and ‘strawberry pavlova with exquisite fairy castle meringues’. The Woods take ‘great care to help you feel at home’. (Jo Adams, Alison Forrester, Helen Boaden)