Askham Hall

With a Michelin-starred restaurant, Grade II listed garden, 17th-century pele tower and French drawing room, Askham Hall sounds as if it might be very formal; not a bit of it. The ancestral home of the Lowthers, now a restaurant-with-rooms, is relaxed and unpretentious with dogs and children mingling among family heirlooms, books and modern art. One drawing room has doors to a classic English country house garden. ‘A lovely place in a lovely setting.’ Main house bedrooms – some with leaded windows and fireplace – mix antiques with modern pieces, while those in the courtyard have a rustic style. Quirky shapes can mean unconventional layouts, and a walk-in shower in the bedroom surprised one couple – though some other bathrooms have a roll-top bath. The tasting menu’s ‘utterly delicious food’, with produce from the kitchen garden, might include salt-baked duck with lingonberry sauce, and barbecued pork with rosehip and pickled pear. Book dinner ahead, advises one reader. A ‘very good breakfast’ delighted one guest with ‘an excellent kipper!’ Guests on their fourth visit described the whole experience as ‘first-rate’.