Middleham Restaurant Guide

“This inn is a gem” overlooking a picture-postcard Dales village green, and “the food is excellent – on a warm sunny day it’s a joy to sit outside, eat well and relax”. Originally a shooting lodge, it became a drovers’ inn in 1840, and is within walking distance of Jervaulx Abbey where the Cistercians developed Wensleydale cheese!

More solid reviews this year for the 40-seat restaurant within this attractive old inn, situated in a market town: “really enjoyable” modern bistro cooking wins praise as does the “great service” (including with kids in tow).

Stewarded by father-and-son duo David & Lewis Moss for two decades, this “fantastic Dales inn” (notably friendly to doggos) has a prime setting in the national park, and combines “friendly service” with “great food” that (despite the name) is notably fish-centric. If you want to make a night of it, they have pleasant themed rooms (including one dedicated to 007, to assuage fans irritated by the long delayed next instalment) and a private two-bedroom cottage just a few steps away.

“Oozing luxury (as it should do at this price!), but a tremendous experience, especially if you stay over” – Shaun Rankin wins exemplary feedback for this “stunning” and stately venue. The centrepiece of the experience is a “great taster menu” running to 14 dishes for £160 per person, produced with “real class and taste”.

Ruth Hansom’s name has regularly cropped up in a series of launches in London in recent years, and till last year she was head chef at nearby luxury hotel, Swinton Park. Here the Darlington-born chef launched in 2024 under her own name, with a 16-seat venue occupying a stylishly refurbished venue on the market place of a picturesque North Yorks town. You can dip your toe in the water from the small plates menu or go for a more ambitious seven-course tasting menu at £75 per head. No reports as yet, but this should be one to watch.

“Trying very hard in a fabulous location” – the traditionally decorated dining room is part of an impressive country-house hotel and spa – a 17th-century manor in the Yorkshire Dales relaunched with little expense spared five years ago (and the AA Hotel of the Year in 2022/23). This luxe brasserie – with steak, lobster, chicken and other fare from the Josper grill – “maintains high standards” although the odd fan feels that it’s “good, but has further to go”. (See also Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall).