Hetton Restaurant Guide

A “superb location” in the heart of the Dales is a key feature at this handsome-looking hotel, whose dining room has gorgeous views over the surrounding countryside. Limited but good feedback, too, on the affordable cuisine (two courses for £37.50, three courses for £45 as we went to press).

“A stark – and welcome – makeover from the Angel in its previous very traditional guise” has helped Michael Wignall put his stamp on this famous northern inn: often cited as the UK’s original country gastropub, which he purchased in 2018. “Having enjoyed Michael Wignall's cooking at his former outpost, The Latymer, we were interested to see how it might translate to North Yorkshire: very well, we thought, with no lack of sophistication and ambition, but losing any of the possible pretension expected in a Surrey hotel”. “Thank heavens! He’s a great chef who does not insist you eat what he chooses, but who offers a choice of dishes, all of which tempt and intrigue”: “really exceptional food”. If you stay over, “the breakfast is a joyous surprise” too.