Best places Woodhall North Yorkshire

The largest county in England, Yorkshire, has a huge variety of countryside and a vast array of things to do whilst enjoying its wild beauty and rugged charm. The cities of York and Leeds and the spa town of Harrogate are good bases from which to explore and can boast many of the best places to stay in Yorkshire, but the countryside and villages are also teeming with good hotels and pubs.

The people of Yorkshire are rightly proud of their county and its sporting prowess and few who know it can have been surprised when Yorkshire came 15th in the medal table at the 2012 Olympics in London. Regarded as one of the spiritual heartlands of cycling in the UK, Yorkshire is a must for anyone who likes to explore on two wheels.

The best places to stay in Yorkshire get snapped up quickly during the busy summer months so early booking is recommended.

Rural Properties

• For tradition and comfort executed in a modern style the Star Inn, a pub with rooms near Helmsley is fabulous. One of the rooms has a pool table at the end of the bed, but if that isn't recommendation enough, breakfast is eaten in a beamed circular room at a circular table. A lovely laid-back mixture of rustic and modern with great food, it is highly recommended.
• Another relaxed pub with rooms is the White Swan Inn, an updated 16th Century coaching inn in Pickering. The stultifying traditional residents lounge of old has been re-imagined here as the Club Room kitted out with pool table, newspapers, magazines and an honesty bar.
• The Traddock is a cosy Georgian country house hotel in stunning countryside on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales. All bedrooms are individually decorated, some with roll-top baths. Dinner in the award-winning organic restaurant is a treat.
• The eco friendly Swinton Park Hotel set in 200 acres of parkland with a lake and walled garden between the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors National Parks manages to be grand (being in a castle) and unpretentious. The food is mostly sourced from the estate and there is a cookery school in the former stables run by Chef Stephen Bulmer.

For those who prefer to base themselves somewhere more urban the excellent Hotel du Vin chain has places to stay in both York and Harrogate.

• Back in York, The Grange is a traditional Georgian hotel in a great location at the heart of the city. A mix of swaggy swirly canopied old school in some bedrooms and Farrow & Balled wooden-floored modernity in the public areas, the owners know how to look after their guests well.
• 42 The Calls in Leeds was one of the first boutique hotels to open outside London and is still the best place to stay in the city. A converted 18th century corn mill, the bedrooms verge on the masculine but are full of rugged character.