To get your bearings, the Howardian Hills, named after the Howard family, of Castle Howard, are a range of hills 15 miles north of York in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a gateway to the North York Moors National Park.
Starting in the market town of Helmsley, Mannion & Co Kitchen is the standout destination for relaxed daytime dining with a blackboard menu of well-filled sandwiches, fat sausage rolls, daily specials, takeaway deli items and excellent coffee. The Bakers House on Borogate, is a charming artisan bakery run by Emma Powell. Her ‘Baker’s Table’ is loaded with bread, cakes and pastries to take home while the Helmsley Brewing Company will pull you a pint of local Howardian Gold at their Brew Tap.
Save the Helmsley Walled Garden and the Vine House Café for when it reopens on 1st March, then you can eat beneath the vines in the Victorian vine house or outside on the terrace for sandwiches, bowl food, scones and cakes.
Helmsley lost two reputable restaurants last year. Sam Varley closed Bantam and while he still retains an interest in the Owl Hawnby, he has moved to York to head up Brancusi. This delightful country inn is in safe hands under head chef Will Rough (formerly of Skosh in York). We are hearing good reports too of Hawnby Stores and Tea Room.
The other loss to Helmsley is Tom and Laurissa Heywood’s Pignut. Happily, they turned up in Scawton, boldly taking over the respected Hare Inn renaming it the Pignut and the Hare. With a smart refurb, four gorgeous bedrooms and a menu that has risen some considerable notches, it feels as if the Heywoods have found their spiritual home in remote little Scawton.
In a neat circle, their old premises on Bridge Street is now home to Iona Ceramics where the talented Iona Crawford-Topp makes beautiful tableware for home and restaurant, including Pignut.
Helmsley’s loss may be Harome’s gain. It’s a mere three miles to Andrew Pern’s Star Inn, the long-established and much garlanded pub/restaurant which finds Pern and executive chef Stephen Smith still at the top of their game. The thatched and beamed Star has open fires, country furniture and a touch of polished brass in what is one of the loveliest bars in Yorkshire. If your credit card can’t take the hit in the dining room, make for the bar and their good value Market Menu. You may wish to stay over with £75 off room rates in January and February.
Lucky Harome has not one, but two top-class restaurants in one small village. The Pheasant Hotel is a cossetting country house hotel with 12 bedrooms and a dining room reportedly back on form after a rocky couple of years following the appointment of head chef Adam Westgarth.
The former head chef (and co-owner) of the Pheasant, Peter Neville, moved on in 2021 to the moorland village of Goathland, and opened the Homestead Kitchen. He serves a short but carefully composed menu of local, seasonal dishes such as North Sea brill, North York Moors mallard and a treacle tart with Goathland heather honey ice cream.
Six miles south of Helmsley is the 12th century ruins of Byland Abbey, perfect for a stroll before crossing to the Abbey Inn where Tommy Banks serves his elevated pub food. The Byland Burger is made from Dexter beef reared on their farm a mile down the road in Oldstead, which is also the location for their flagship Black Swan restaurant. For a true food adventure, splash out on their ten-course tasting menu at lunch or dinner, sourced from the farm’s produce and foraged wild ingredients.
Further south is Crayke an ancient hill-top village with the long-established Durham Ox, where Michael and Sasha Ibbotson have been serving people-pleasing dishes for the last 27 years. Think slow-cooked confit duck, mushroom truffle ravioli and every variety of steak and chips
The Plough at Wombleton is where Richard and Lindsey Johns have settled, serving dependable and comforting dishes like their honey-glazed duck breast. During Restaurant Week they are offering three-courses for £25.
Two miles away, pretty Hovingham has the excellent Hovingham Village Market held on the first Saturday of the month selling, among numerous food stalls, Haxby sourdough bread, local Moorside Mushroom and Clucking Pig scotch eggs.
Hovingham is also home to the admirable Mýse (pronounced meeze), where Josh and Victoria Overington have turned the local village inn into the finest of fine dining restaurants. It’s a journey through a series of exquisite small courses. A hand-dived Orkney scallop with dried coral and sea urchin butter just one of a number of highlights culminating in a fig tart with rum, theatrically flamed at your table.
