Prices from:
£149 per night
Pickering is perhaps one of the prettiest market towns in the North York Moors National Park and the handsome 16th-century White Swan Inn is the jewel in its crown. Driving through the ancient stone archway you get a real sense of the history of the place. Built in 1532 it was originally a four-roomed cottage, but was soon extended to become a stop-over for the York to Whitby stagecoach; not much has changed! The Buchanan family has been at the helm for over 30 years, and today Victor and Marion extend the same warmth and hospitality. Walk in off the street into the bar or the snug, wooden floors, burnished oak tables and open fires – the window seat is a great place for a spot of lunch with the papers and a chance to people-watch on market day – or slip through to the elegant dining room for a candle-lit dinner. Cycling enthusiasts abound in this part of Yorkshire and the White Swan Inn offers a dedicated secure bike storage shed plus lots of add on’s for cyclists keen to experience the tracks and trails in Dalby Forest and along the coast.
Children are welcome; there are sofa beds, z-beds and cots available and the Hideaway Rooms can either have 2 independent locking doors or one main outer locking door making them very family friendly. Early suppers can be arranged; the kid’s menu offers fresh food (pasta with slow roasted tomato sauce & parmesan; Yorkshire sausage & chips with veg; roast of the day; Whitby fish & chips); and digital baby monitors are available.
Four dog-friendly bedrooms in the Hideaways (12.50 per night) and they’re allowed in the bar
There isn’t a garden as such but there’s a small, pleasant, private patio by the bothy where you can eat & drink.
No quiz or meet the brewer, but look out for Ginger Pig steak night on Mondays and Thursdays Posh Fish & Chips.
What’s the Damage?
B&B £149-£189. DB&B £209-£249
What Else?
Gongs
2 AA Rosettes; Waitrose Good Food Guide
As befits an inn of this era and character, there’s barely a straight wall in the place! Vintage rooms in the pub are delightful – all different but all the last word in comfort and style; Marion’s a keen collector and her antique finds are dotted through the rooms. Check out the fabulous 19th-century French Caribbean four poster (it’s so high off the floor there’s a set of steps to climb up – perhaps hold back on that second bottle, it’s a long way to fall!) The vibe might be vintage but the luxury is bang up to date – bathrooms are modern and spotless. ‘Hideaway’ rooms in the renovated stables across the yard have underfloor heating and a more contemporary feel. The ‘Treat’ room is a wonderful indulgence, set out over two floors with a free-standing roll-top bath downstairs and a well-placed flat-screen TV to watch your favourite soap. Upstairs, an antique French super king bed and Juliet balcony. Your canine chum is welcome in the ground floor rooms over here – and he’ll thank you when you treat him to any number of great walks from the door. Help yourself to tea and coffee in the fabulous Bothy when you get back; recover in a super-comfy armchair in front of the wood stove with your feet up.
Homemade biscuits; bathrobes; Bath House products; brollies to get to the main building in the rain!
Wi-fi; Flatscreen TV; DVD player.
Fresh fruit salad; full Yorkshire featuring locally farmed meat; eggs Benedict; grilled Whitby kippers; kedgeree; mushrooms on toast; boiled eggs & soldiers.
What’s the Damage?
B&B £149-£189. DB&B £209-£249
What Else?
Gongs
2 AA Rosettes; Waitrose Good Food Guide
Local lad Darren Clemmit is in charge of the kitchen and is part of the fabric of the place – he’s been involved with the Swan for 20 years and his devotion is palpable. What he doesn’t know about good local ingredients isn’t worth knowing, and his grasp of terroir shines through his menus. Fish comes from Whitby and Scarborough and is put to good use in dishes like shallow fried hake with smoked salmon, creamed kale and sautéed heritage potatoes. Just down the road in Levisham, The Ginger Pig supplies top-quality rare breed meat, so you’ll find the likes of roast lamb rump or Longhorn beef sirloin cooked over charcoal and served with fat hand-cut chips and a béarnaise sauce. Darren’s signature dish, Ginger Pig belly pork is a must-have, though if you’re having a light lunch his jar of Ginger Pig pork (the smoothest terrine topped with sharp apple sauce accompanied with home made piccalilli, crackling and charcoal toasted bread) will set you up nicely for a moors walk. All of the grilled meat and fish is cooked over real charcoal. Sundays are special here; diners flock from far and wide to tuck into sides of beef and pork served up with goose fat roasties and of course Yorkshire puds. If you’re heading for an outdoor concert at Dalby Forest, they’ll put together a picnic hamper for you; who needs Glyndebourne!
Grilled Lowna goats cheese, beetroot relish, pecan & cheddar biscuit & pesto
Roast Levisham lamb rump, chateau potatoes, mashed carrot & swede, caper sauce
Beef shin Osso Bucco, onion gravy, parsleyed carrot & horseradish risotto
Charcoal grilled aubergines, lentil & vegetable curry
Grilled hake, smoked salmon, creamed curly kale and heritage potatoes
Traditional Ginger Pig Roasts: Longhorn Beef (roast top rump, goose fat roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, onion gravy & homemade horseradish) or ‘plum pudding’ pork.
Morning coffee from 7am and breakfast from 7.30am for non-residents. You can order a picnic – they do them for events like the Dalby Forest concerts. Full Afternoon tea or Yorkshire Cream Tea served in the inn, or in Feast their café next door.
Breakfast: 7.45am – 10am
Morning coffee and cakes: 10am – 12 noon
Lunch: 12 noon – 2pm
Light bites and snacks: 2pm – 4.30pm
Dinner: 6.45-9pm
Room service menu from 8am – 10pm.
Game comes from Wellocks & Sykes, House Farm and local shoots
Longhorn beef, Swaledale lamb, Tamworth pork, Limousin veal come from The Ginger Pig, Levisham (www.thegingerpig.co.uk)
Poultry from, Herb Fed Poultry, York (www.herbfedpoultry.co.uk)
Fish from Hodgsons, Hartlepool
Cheese from Lowna Dairy (www.lownadairy.com)
Preserves from Strawberry Fields
You’ll find Black Sheep Bitter and Timothy Taylor Landlord in fine fettle behind the old oak bar; if you’re a wine drinker you’re in for a treat. Victor has carefully chosen a collection of wines of character and individuality rather than a list of well known names – many of them by the glass, so in his words: ‘experiment!’
11am – 11pm (12 noon – 11pm Sunday)
What’s the Damage?
B&B £149-£189. DB&B £209-£249
What Else?
Gongs
2 AA Rosettes; Waitrose Good Food Guide
Take it back home
Tour the brewery that brewed your favourite pint, visit the shop on the farm that reared your delicious Sunday roast beef, and seek out the roadside stalls selling the local crab and samphire on the inn’s menu, the Food Trail features the local artisan producers and suppliers where you can buy to enjoy at home.
Change of scenery
Looking for a pub for lunch following a country walk, a different venue for dinner, or a good café for coffee, light lunch or afternoon tea, then the best in the area are listed below. If you find a new and exciting eatery in the area that’s worthy of a mention on the Food Trail, then please to do let us know – .
Inn Location - The White Swan Inn
A proper farm shop on a working farm, run by Mark and Jenny Rooke, who pride themselves on selling local produce including meat from their farm and smoked fish from the nearby Yoadwath Mill Trout Farm.
Award-winning farm shop and café – great for a ‘vintage’ afternoon tea with home made cakes and delicate sandwiches. Shop for their own, home-reared beef and lamb, and pork from Trotters Farm at Potter Brompton. The shop is a veritable Aladdin’s cave; take home local cheese and eggs and rapeseed oil, and beer from Wold Top Brewery.
Great little bakery and patisserie in pretty Helmsley; artisan bread is made daily to traditional recipes, including black-olive bread made in a rustic, continental style. And there are proper croissants and pain au chocolat, not to mention gorgeous lemon tarts and beautiful fruited frangipane.
A fabulous café and deli (next door to and owned by The White Swan Inn) that certainly lives up to its name. Stock up in the Deli and take home some great Yorkshire produce, including meat from local farms, or linger in the café over morning coffee, lunch or afternoon tea - the food is delicious, from the home-made black pudding scotch eggs and cakes, to the freshly made lunchtime quiches and salads.
Talented baker Von is making a real name for herself and not just for the wonderful bread and cakes she makes and sells – her courses are gaining popularity so best book in advance to guarantee a place. Planned sessions include everything from patisserie and savouries to bread and sponge cakes.
Much of the meat sold in this family owned and run shop is home reared on their own farm – no air miles here! They keep and sell poultry too – need quail eggs? Look no further.
(Yorkshire Life Afternoon Tea of the Year) Even the silverware and crockery is vintage in this charming tea room on the edge of Pickering; the afternoon tea is a belter but tuck in to a very good ploughman's lunch or the Middleton Savoury which includes a fabulous cheese scone and onion marmalade.
Essentially this is a ‘pick your own’ business, but they sell their own preserves in a cute little shop on site – chef Darren reckons their jam and marmalade is the best, so why would you make your own if it’s this good?
Traditional 15th century pub in a sleepy village; sit in front of a roaring fire with a pint of Theakstons Bitter and an excellent sandwich after a bracing walk round nearby Kirkbymoorside.
Stunning thatched inn bordering the moors with a Michelin star menu and comfortable, individually designed bedrooms.
See Inn Places entry
Inn Activities
Shopping
Places of interest - Filter results using pins Inn Location - The White Swan Inn
Ganton, in the Vale of Pickering between York and Scarborough, ranks among the very best of Britain's inland courses and has hosted many tournaments, both amateur and professional.Visitors are welcome, but you should phone to check available tee times.
A family business specialising in mountain biking and cycling holidays in North Yorkshire, this set-up offers tailored guiding and instruction to those that want to learn or improve.
A full programme of live theatre, music, dance, cinema, literature, exhibitions, classes, workshops, discussions and conferences.
Exciting outdoor activities - 4x4 off-road driving, quad biking, and clay pigeon shooting.
Situated in the village of Nunnington, near York, this inspiring gallery specialises in ceramics and sculpture from new and established British artists.
A studio/gallery, open all year and situated in the beautiful village of Rosedale Abbey. Expect critically acclaimed exhibits of contemporary hand-crafted glass, hand-blown on the premises.
Fifty-one dealers selling a wide range of antiques and collectables, from Georgian and Victorian furniture, to paintings, prints and maps, dolls and toys, vintage clothing and kitchenalia.
Handmade papermaking in the Courtyard at Dalby Forest. Decorative paper is used to create works of art and practical paper objects such as lamps. Niki Hampson is constantly experimenting to find new and different methods of production. Works are for sale and you can have a go at papermaking yourself.
Ryedale is full of artists and craftspeople. Rydedale Artworks publish an annual directory of more than 40 galleries, studios, artists and specialists, including venues which can be visited throughout the year.You'll find printmakers, sculptors, oil and watercolour painters, ceramicists, jewellers, paper and textile artists, film and multimedia creatives, artisan blacksmiths, photographers, wildlife artists and more.
Located in Helmsley, Saltbox showcases a wide variety of contemporary art and fine craft from some of the best artists and makers working in Britain. There's a regularly changing programme of exhibitions.
This a good shop in Pickering for all your outdoor clothing, equipment and footwear needs - and they sell fishing tackle too.
There is something for everyone in York, from high street favourites to independent shops, boutiques and galleries of all kinds. Many of them can be found in the most historic parts of the city, in characterful buildings in the lovely medieval and Georgian streets, so it’s a great place for a wander and a bit of window shopping.
These austerely beautiful ruins of what was once one of the greatest monasteries in England are very dramatic. The abbey inspired the design of church buildings throughout the North, and is an outstanding example of early gothic architecture. There's a museum on site, displaying archaeological finds and giving an insight into monastic life in Yorkshire. Sunsets here can be quite stunning.
Still privately owned and home to the Howard family for more than 300 years, this splendid 18th-century house is set in 1,000 acres of fabulous landscape in the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. There are collections of paintings and furniture, as well as beautiful gardens to explore.
Owned by the Worsley family for 450 years, the house you see today is an outstanding example of Palladian architecture. The interiors are delightful and fascinating, but it's only open to the public in June.
A futuristic time capsule will transport you around this cutting-edge, ground-breaking museum, showing you what living in Viking York was really like - right down to the sounds and smells. Built on the site of the Viking settlement unearthed by archaeologists between 1976 and 1981, the results of the excavations can be examined at close quarters with hi-tech audio and visual displays.
Historic locomotives and rolling stock from Britain and around the world can be viewed up close across a vast site, along with amazing displays of railway memorabilia - everything from engine nameplates to publicity posters. You can also see locos being preserved and maintained.
The world’s most popular heritage railway gives you the chance to take a trip back in time. Expect lovingly restored locomotives and rolling stock, rural stations and the fantastic scenery of the North York Moors National Park – plus plenty of special events throughout the year.
A picturesque Yorkshire manor house, nestled beside the River Rye. Famous for its delightful setting, it boasts an organic walled garden, spring-flowering meadows, flamboyant resident peacocks and a programme of art and photography exhibitions. Nunnington also houses one of the world's finest collections of miniature rooms.
The castle was originally built by the Normans during the reign of William the Conqueror, but most of what you see today dates from the 13th century.
With its impressive Cistercian ruins set amid trees in the remote and secluded valley of the river Rye, Rievaulx is one of the most complete - and atmospheric - of England's abbey ruins. Though the remains are substantial - three storeys in places - a lot was demolished after the Dissolution of the abbey in 1538. Above, you'll find the Rievaulx Terraces and Temples, created between 1749 and 1757. One of the most popular visitor attractions in the North.
This is the largest original World War II RAF Bomber Command Centre open to the public. More than 40 planes can be seen, including the Halifax Bomber and modern jets such as the Harrier and Tornado. Special events include Thunder Days when you can see some of the aircraft in flight.
www.yorkshire.com
www.nationaltrail.co.uk
www.northyorkmoors.org.uk
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
Four of Britain’s finest National Trails can be found in Yorkshire. The Cleveland Way takes you around the North York Moors from Helmsley to the coast; The Yorkshire Wolds Way is quite gentle, rambling through peaceful fields and over chalk hills; the Pennine Way is a bit more serious and challenging, taking in the Yorkshire Dales on its mammoth journey from the Peak District to Scotland. The purpose-built Pennine Bridleway might also appeal. The scenery is always amazing, and all of the trails can be sampled in shorter stretches. You can even have your luggage transported by a baggage-handling company, leaving you free to enjoy this beautiful county without being weighed down with gear.
Bridestones, Crosscliff and Blakely Topping
Look forward to some great walking country in this moorland nature reserve. The Bridestones has peculiar-shaped rock formations, heather moorland, ancient woodland and herb-rich meadows, while Blakey Topping has superb all-round views.
www.forestry.gov.uk
www.dalbybikebarn.co.uk
www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/
At the White Swan Inn you will find a dedicated secure bike storage shed, with washing and drying facilities specifically aimed at cyclists eager to tackle the tracks and trails in Dalby Forest and along the coast. Group rates are offered for eight or more cyclists and guides can be organised for both road and MTB riding. Comprising 8,000 acres of working forest, north of Thornton-le-Dale, Dalby offers waymarked walking and cycling trails for all abilities, and is considered one of the finest trail networks in the UK. The southern part of the forest is a ‘rigg and dale’ landscape, divided by a number of valleys, and to the north it sits on the upland plateau. Wheelchairs and electric buggies can be hired, while bikes are available to rent from the Bike Barn. It’s best to follow the signs rather than your SatNav, by the way.
www.visitryedale.co.uk
March sees The Yorkshire Cajun Festival in Malton: musicians from all over the world, plus dancing and great food. The Ryedale Festival (two weeks in July) features performances at Castle Howard, Hovingham Hall, Duncombe Park and Sledmere, as well as in Ampleforth Abbey, Helmsley Arts Centre and many of Ryedale’s beautiful country churches. There’s music, opera, theatre, and more. The Ryedale Jazz Festival takes place in July, with venues across Pickering. The North York Moors Chamber Music Festival takes place in August, with performances in historic churches across the region. Galtres Parklands Festival is a family festival, with seven stages hosting music and cabaret plus lots of activities for children and young people. The location is beautiful Duncombe Park in Helmlsey at the end of August. The Ryedale Book Festival offers a number of small events throughout the year, with the main festival in October centred around Malton and Norton.
By Road: Pickering is on the A170 between Helmsley and Scarborough.
Stunning thatched inn bordering the moors with a Michelin star menu and comfortable, individually designed bedrooms.
See more
Fabulous city location for this elegant townhouse with a quirky interior, crowd-pleasing menu and stylish bedrooms.
See more
Old coaching inn in the glorious Dales close to Malham Tarn; good walking, wholesome food and cosy rooms
See more
Perfect for exploring the Moors, ease into this grand old town centre inn with its quirky, immaculate bedrooms.
See more