Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Middleham
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Middleham restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 10 restaurants in Middleham and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Middleham restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Middleham Restaurants
1. Samuel’s, Swinton Park Hotel & Spa
British, Modern restaurant in Masham
Swinton Park - HG4
Struan Macintyre now presides over the stoves in the flagship dining room of this stately country retreat. It has seen a number of head chefs come and go in recent times, but still inspires good all-round feedback following its significant refurb concluding earlier in the year. The menu format nowadays is that of an upscale brasserie (including grilled steak, fish and lobster) rather than the more ‘haute’ tasting formats of yesteryear. Elsewhere in the property, its plush lounges also win the thumbs up as a place to “live the high life in the afternoon” – “served in the traditional way in the drawing room, there is no better place in the area for afternoon tea”.
2. The Blue Lion
British, Traditional restaurant in East Witton
“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!
3. The Sandpiper Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Leyburn
Market Place - DL8
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).
4. The Wensleydale Heifer
British, Modern restaurant in West Witton
Main St - DL8
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.
5. Yorebridge House
restaurant in Bainbridge
2022 Review: “The quality of the cooking and wine list step up yet another gear on every visit” – agree regulars at Dave & Charlotte Reilly’s Wensleydale boutique hotel, which they opened in a former school 15 years ago. Chef Dan Shotton “has always been ahead on local ingredients” and serves a stripped-down, contemporary menu. Guests are treated to a “fantastic welcome and service from start to finish”.
6. Sportsman’s Arms
British, Traditional restaurant in Wath-in-Nidderdale
The Sportsmans Arms - HG3
2021 Review: “Honest Yorkshire portions of high-quality local ingredients” set the tone at this remote seventeenth-century inn near Pateley Bridge, run by Ray & June Carter for more than 30 years. They serve copious amounts of game shot in the immediate area, and have fishing rights on the River Nidd. The décor either “needs a refresh” or is delightfully old-fashioned, according to your taste.
7. The Coach House
British, Modern restaurant in Middleton Tyas
Middleton Lodge Estate, Kneeton Lane - DL10
2021 Review: Set in 200 acres of North Yorkshire, this informal bar/brasserie is an “interesting conversion of stables attached to the main house” (there is also a posher dining option here, ‘The Forge’). An all-day operation, it offers food that’s “reliable and well presented” from a series of menus, including breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner (with the focus on Mediterranean char grills).
8. Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Grantley
“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”.
9. Hansom Restaurant and Wine Bar
restaurant in Bedale
7 - 9 North End - DL8
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.
10. Fletchers at Grantley Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Grantley
“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).
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