Fauconberg Arms

The extremely friendly and hospitable Rheinberg family always make their customers feel glad they came for a drink, a meal or an overnight stay in this nicely updated 17th-c inn; the breakfasts are especially good. The heavily beamed and flagstoned bar has log fires in both linked areas - one in an unusual arched fireplace in a broad low inglenook - muted contemporary colours, some attractive oak chairs by local craftsmen alongside more usual pub furnishings, nicely chosen old local photographs and other pictures, and copper implements and china. Hambleton Bitter, Theakstons Best and Wold Top Gold on handpump, a thoughtful choice of wines by the glass and 28 malt whiskies. The pub dogs, Peggy, Bramble and Phoebe, welcome other four-legged friends, if well behaved. The candlelit dining room is quietly elegant with a gently upmarket yet relaxed atmosphere. The garden behind the inn has seats and tables on the terrace and views across the fields to Byland Abbey; picnic-sets and teak benches out on the front cobbles look along this charming village's broad tree-lined verges, bright with flower tubs. This year, they've opened a shop selling home-baked bread, their own cheese and other groceries.