‘Loved it all.’ ‘A slice of heaven.’ Readers have an abiding fondness for this small hotel, a wisteria-swathed 17th-century stone farmhouse, owned by the Wood family since the 1950s. Despite its High Street address, it sits pretty in ten acres of lovely gardens, fringing the North York Moors. Within it is, indeed, ‘rather dated’. However, a reader this year was ‘made very welcome and comfortable, and the rooms have all the modern toys like an espresso machine’. Brothers Bertie and Tom Wood and their mother, Jane, are kind hosts. ‘We enjoyed a friendly welcome from Bertie and Tom, then morning coffee and a light lunch with a newspaper, before setting off over the moors.’ Sandra Thurlow’s nightly-changing, locally sourced menus cater to hungry walkers with such dishes as poached Whitby halibut with Pernod hollandaise; nut and lentil loaf; braised venison in Madeira sauce. At breakfast there are locally smoked kippers, York ham, the full Monty. ‘The bill was less than we expected. When we pointed out some small omissions they said “Oh, never mind, as long as you’re happy.” Can you beat that for personal care and service?’ ‘We shall certainly return!’ (Richard Bright, and others)