Ray and June Carter have clocked up more than three decades at this likeable, welcoming seventeenth-century hostelry-with-rooms reached via a packhorse off the road towards Nidderdale. Inside, the
whole place is done out in the style of a gentrified country inn, with rustic antique furniture, wall clocks, old sideboards and mirrors. Dinner menus in the traditionally appointed restaurant make
excellent use of Nidderdale lamb and beef, game from the moors and daily deliveries of fish from the East Coast ports for a roster of classic dishes along the lines of herring roes on toast,
poached salmon with cucumber beurre blanc or roast pheasant with all the trimmings. Otherwise pick something from the blackboard in the traditional bar to go with a pint of Black Sheep or Timothy
Taylor. There’s also a decent list of wines with a strong French accent.