Nominations for the 2011 Good Pub Guide "Inn of the Year"

Old Bridge House, Huntingdon (Cambridgeshire) - take a look on StreetView

Georgian hotel with smartly pubby bar, splendid range of drinks, and excellent food

This is, of course, a civilised Georgian hotel rather than a pub but it does have a quietly chatty bar with a good mix of customers (suited diners and those in jeans and t-shirts rub shoulders quite happily), a log fire, comfortable sofas and low wooden tables on polished floorboards and Adnams Bitter, City of Cambridge Hobsons Choice, and Elgoods Golden Newt on handpump; first class service. They also have an exceptional wine list (a dozen by the glass in the bar) and have opened a wine shop in what had been a private dining room. Most customers are here though to enjoy the imaginative food served by excellent staff which can be eaten in the big airy Terrace (an indoor room, but with beautifully painted verdant murals suggesting the open air) or in the slightly more formal panelled restaurant. This is a very nice place to stay.

Pheasant, Bassenthwaite Lake (Cumbria) - take a look on StreetView

Charming, old-fashioned bar in smart hotel with enjoyable bar food and fine range of drinks; excellent restaurant, and attractive surrounding woodlands; comfortable bedrooms

Of course this is not a pub but a civilised, particularly well run hotel (which many of our readers love staying at) but it does house a surprisingly pubby, unchanging bar – which is charming and old-fashioned and just the place to enjoy a quiet pint or informal lunch. There are mellow polished walls, cushioned oak settles, rush-seat chairs and library seats, hunting prints and photographs, and Bass, Coniston Bluebird, and Jennings Cumberland on handpump served by friendly, knowledgeable staff; also, 12 good wines by the glass and over 60 malt whiskies. Several comfortable lounges have log fires, beautiful flower arrangements, fine parquet flooring, antiques, and plants. Dogs are allowed in the residents' lounge at lunchtime and they do let them into the bar during the day too, unless people are eating. There are seats in the garden, attractive woodland surroundings, and plenty of walks in all directions.

Seaview Hotel, Seaview (Isle of Wight) - take a look on StreetView

Small relaxed hotel with informal bar, good wine list and lovely bedrooms

You'll need to make your way through to the back of this gently civilised 200-year-old hotel to reach the simple pubby bar. Here you'll find a relaxing down-to-earth atmosphere, traditional wood furnishings on bare boards, lots of seafaring paraphernalia around softly lit ochre walls, and a log fire. The comfortable front bar, with good soft furnishings, is modelled on a naval wardroom and is home to one of the most extensive private collections of naval pictures, photographs and artefacts to be found on the island. Drinks include Goddards, Yates Undercliff Experience and a guest on handpump, a good selection of malt whiskies, a farm cider (in summer) and a good wine list (including a couple from local vineyards); TV, darts and board games. Tables on little terraces on either side of the path to the front door take in glimpses of the sea and coast, and some of the comfortable bedrooms also have a sea view. If you run a tab they may ask to keep your credit card behind the bar.

White Swan, Pickering (Yorkshire) - take a look on StreetView

Relaxed little bar in civilised coaching inn, several smart lounges, attractive restaurant, real ales and an excellent wine list, and first-class food; luxurious bedrooms

Staying overnight here is a real treat as the bedrooms are lovely and the breakfasts, excellent. It's a smart old coaching inn with quite an emphasis on the first class restaurant but there is a small bar with real ales and a friendly welcome. This room has a relaxed atmosphere, wood panelling, sofas and just four tables, a log fire, and Black Sheep Best and Timothy Taylors Landlord on handpump, 11 wines by the glass from an extensive list that includes super old St Emilions and pudding wines, and 20 malt whiskies. Opposite, a bare-boards room with a few more tables has another fire in a handsome art nouveau iron fireplace, a big bow window, and pear prints on its plum-coloured walls. The restaurant has flagstones, a fine open fire, rich tweed soft furnishings, comfortable settles and gothic screens, and the residents' lounge is in a converted beamed barn. The old coach entry to the car park is very narrow.

Punch Bowl, Crosthwaite (Cumbria) - take a look on StreetView

Stylish dining pub, fine choice of drinks, impressive food, good wines and real ales, and seats on terrace overlooking valley; lovely bedrooms

What makes this stylish hotel stand out for us is not just the fact that it's such a smashing place to stay in splendid bedrooms or even that the food is so good, it's the genuine way that walkers and their wet dogs are welcomed into the public bar. This room is raftered and hop-hung with a couple of eye-catching rugs on flagstones, bar stools by the slate-topped counter, and Barngates Tag Lag and Westmorland Gold, Coniston Bluebird Bitter, and Hawkshead Lakeland Gold on handpump; lots of wines by the glass and around a dozen malt whiskies. This opens on the right into two linked carpeted and beamed rooms with well spaced country pine furnishings of varying sizes, including a big refectory table. The walls, painted in restrained neutral tones, have an attractive assortment of prints, and there are some copper objects and a dresser with china and glass; winter log fire, woodburning stove, lots of fresh flowers and daily papers. On the left, the wooden-floored restaurant area (also light and airy and attractive) has comfortable high-backed leather dining chairs. Throughout, the pub feels relaxing and nicely uncluttered. There are some tables on a terrace stepped into the hillside, overlooking the lovely Lyth Valley. Breakfasts are super, afternoon tea is thrown in and a newspaper of your choice is brought to your room with morning tea.

Kirkstile Inn, Loweswater (Cumbria) - take a look on StreetView

Busy bar in popular inn lovely spot with own-brewed beers and tasty food; bedrooms

Surrounded by stunning peaks and fells, this 16th-c inn has a really friendly and relaxed atmosphere and a good mix of both locals and walkers. The bustling main bar is low-beamed and carpeted with a roaring log fire, comfortably cushioned small settles and pews and partly stripped stone walls; there's a slate shove-ha'penny board. As well as their own-brewed Loweswater Grasmoor Dark, Kirkstile Gold and Melbreak Bitter on handpump, they keep up to three guest beers, and ten wines by the glass. The fine view can be enjoyed from picnic-sets on the lawn, from the very attractive covered verandah in front of the building and from the bow windows in one of the rooms off the bar.

Brace of Pheasants, Plush (Dorset) - take a look on StreetView

Fairly smart but relaxed 16th-c thatched pub with friendly service and decent garden; nearby walks

Hidden away on a little-frequented lane and well placed for walks in beautifully folded countryside, this village inn has a decent-sized garden and terrace include a lawn sloping up towards a rockery. The airy beamed bar has good solid tables, windsor chairs, fresh flowers, a huge heavy-beamed inglenook at one end with cosy seating inside, and a good warming log fire at the other. Ringwood Best along with local guests such as Palmers Copper and Piddle Jimmy Riddle are tapped from the cask and there's a good choice of wines with 18 by the glass; friendly service. From here an attractive bridleway behind goes to the left of the woods and over to Church Hill. The en-suite bedrooms are nicely fitted out and comfortable.

Bathurst Arms, North Cerney (Gloucestershire) - take a look on StreetView

Bustling inn with beamed bar, open fires, fine wines, real ales, and well liked food; comfortable bedrooms

With plenty of genuine character, this is a handsome old inn where both drinkers and diners feel equally at home. The original beamed and panelled bar has a fireplace at each end (one quite huge and housing an open woodburner), a good mix of old tables and nicely faded chairs, and old-fashioned window seats. There are country tables in an oak-floored room off the bar, as well as winged high-backed settles forming a few booths around other tables; piped music. The restaurant has leather sofas and another woodburning stove. Hidden Pint, Hook Norton First Light, and Wickwar Cotswold Way on handpump, there's a wine room where you can choose your own wines and 30 by the glass, and local soft drinks and juices. The pleasant riverside garden has picnic-sets sheltered by trees and shrubs, and plenty of surrounding walks. Cerney House gardens are worth a visit.

Cartwright, Aynho (Northamptonshire) - take a look on StreetView

Well run modernised inn with tasty food and civilised bar

The winds of change have swept warmly though this 16th-c coaching inn leaving in their wake a beautifully refurbished stone building. Its spacious neatly modernised linked areas have well chosen artwork on cream and maroon painted or exposed stone walls, smartly contemporary furniture on wood or tiled floors, and leather sofas by a big log fire in the bar. Attentive uniformed staff greet you on arrival, and they have daily papers and a nice shortlist of wines by the glass as well as Adnams and Black Sheep from handpumps on the corner counter. Outside, there are a few tables in a pretty corner of the former coachyard. In the village, look out for the apricot trees planted against the front of the pub and against some other older houses in this pleasant village.

Crown, Stoke-by-Nayland (Suffolk) - take a look on StreetView

Smart dining pub with attractive modern furnishings, bistro-style food, fantastic wine choice and comfortable bedrooms

Of course the emphasis at this busy, smart and friendly dining pub is on the interesting, bistro-style food but those popping in for a drink and a chat are just as welcome. Most of the place is open to the three-sided bar servery, but there are two or three cosy tucked-away areas too. The main part, with a big woodburning stove, has quite a few closely spaced tables in a variety of shapes, styles and sizes; elsewhere, several smaller areas have just three or four tables each. Seating varies from deep armchairs and sofas to elegant dining chairs and comfortable high-backed woven rush seats - and there are plenty of bar stools.There are cheerful wildlife and landscape paintings on the pale walls, quite a few attractive table lamps, low ceilings (some with a good deal of stripped old beams), and floors varying from old tiles through broad boards or dark new flagstones to beige carpet; daily papers. Three real ales are from brewers such as Downton and Woodfordes on handpump and they offer a fantastic choice of 37 wines by the glass from a list of around 200 kept in an unusual glass-walled wine 'cellar' in one corner. A sheltered back terrace, with cushioned teak chairs and tables under big canvas parasols, looks out over a neat lawn to a landscaped shrubbery and there are many more picnic-sets out on the front terrace. Disabled access is good and the car park is big.

Black Swan, Oldstead (Yorkshire) - take a look on StreetView

Enjoyable traditional food in comfortable and attractive back dining areas (good disabled access here) with antique furnishings, simpler beamed and flagstoned bar with pretty valley views from two big bay windows, log fire, well kept Black Sheep and Copper Dragon, nice staff; children welcome, picnic-sets outside, bedroom extension, beautiful surroundings