Lord Crewe Arms at Blanchland

Originally the abbot’s lodge and kitchens (and its garden the cloisters), the Lord Crewe Arms has become a Grade II*-listed inn. The village, in a sheep-clad valley on the moors’ edge, was built with stone from the abbey’s ruins. Inside: ancient flags, inglenook fireplaces, fortress walls and a classy country décor. Public areas range from lofty to intimate and the atmospheric bar is in the vaulted crypt. With a head chef from Mark Hix’s ‘stable’, the robust modern British menu includes steaks, chops and spit-roasted meats, fresh crab salad and ruby beets. Puddings hark back to ancient times: sea buckthorn posset, rhubarb fumble. Wines include great burgundies and clarets, ales range from Allendale’s Golden Plover to Nel’s Best from High House Farm, and there are water bowls for dogs in the garden. If you stay, you’re in for a treat. Most rooms are divided between The Angel, a simple, beautiful, listed ex-inn across the way, and the former tied cottages. Some bedrooms have exposed stone walls and real fires, all have soft carpets, fine fabrics, divine beds and deep baths.