The George and Dragon, Hudswell
Small, friendly and community-owned; you can glow with virtue in this beautiful spot as well as enjoying the locally-sourced food and a pint of Black Sheep or guest ales. The pub is a freehouse and runs a shop, internet access and allotments for the 200-odd locals, so there's always something going off. Pub games include darts, bowls and cribbage and there's a garden. The pub is often frequented by visitors from across the world who are doing the nearby Coast to Coast Walk. Landlady Jackie Stubbs and her mum Margaret are naturals at their job.
• Hudswell, Richmond, 01748 518373, georgeanddragonhudswell.com
The White Lion Inn, Cray
The prettiest of the three pubs on upper Wharfedale's loveliest walk, the triangle between Cray, Buckden and Hubberholme. The ashes of the writer JB Priestley were scattered at Hubberholme, which he called "one of the smallest and pleasant places in the world". True, but Cray is even smaller and more pleasant. The pub is very small and simple with stone-flagged floors, low ceilings and log fire in season. Trout on the menu come from nearby Kilnsey, meat from Dales farms and cheese, natch, from over the narrow pass in Wensleydale. There's endless space outdoors plus a babbling stream and you can stay overnight in cottagey rooms.
• Cray, Skipton, 01756 760262, whitelioncray.com
The Fountaine Inn, Linton
This historic whitewashed inn stands in a fascinating backwater, overlooking a tiny green but with Vanbrugh's typically monumental Fountaine hospital and almshouses to one side. The pub is one of five in the Skipton-based Individual Inns group, a mini-chain which for once lives up to its name. The Fountaine's traditional exterior goes with a smart, cool interior, excellent menu and plentiful range of food and drink. Linton can be crowded in season, but limited parking and the fleshpots of nearby Grassington usually means that visitors – especially walkers – can find room.
• Linton In Craven, 01756 752210, fountaineinnatlinton.co.uk
The Bridge Inn, Grinton
A roomy village pub by the tumbling river Swale with a team of friendly staff, mostly from the surrounding village. There's plenty of room outside but if it's cold or wet, landlord Andrew Atkin makes a point of welcoming streaming cagoules and muddy boots. Log fires help, too, in such conditions, along with good and varied food – some of it shot by Atkin himself – and Jennings beer, plus a constantly changing range of guest ales. Comfy accommodation and walks to die for, both in beautiful countryside and among the ghostly ruins of vanished mineral mines.
• Grinton, Richmond, 01748 884224, bridgeinn-grinton.co.uk
The Lion Inn, Blakey Ridge
An oasis amid the grandeur of the North York Moors with the extra-friendly appeal of a place which in winter is regularly snowed-in. Indoors is darkly snug, warm and tempting, but the vistas outside are tremendous. They look even better over a Black Sheep, Theakstons, Thwaites, Copper Dragon ... the Lion is beer heaven but with racks of wine, spirits and soft drinks as well. There are 13 rooms, one with a four-poster, and all manner of small services to hardy explorers including secure storage for bikes. The kitchen has never heard of nouvelle cuisine; this is large portion land.
• Blakey Ridge, Kirkbymoorside, 01751 417320, lionblakey.co.uk
The Horseshoe Hotel and Ye (or "Top") Horseshoe, Egton Bridge
Shared honours for two pubs with (almost) similar names in this interesting enclave of the "old religion". Henry VIII's reformation never really made it here and the Catholic church is still the biggest and busiest place of worship. The Horseshoe Hotel has a lovely position by the river Esk, a handsome Georgian building with stones carved with the markers of the local Egton estate. Pleasant panelled rooms inside, good food and beer and friendly staff. Ye Horseshoe, higher up the hill (hence "Top") has a lively landlord, plentiful pies, vegetarian and senior options and at least six real ales on the go. You can stay comfortably at both pubs.
• Horseshoe Hotel, 01947 895245, egtonbridgehotel.co.uk; Ye (or 'Top') Horseshoe, 01947 895274, yehorseshoe.co.uk
The Sportsman's Arms, Wath
They have served the same Eton Mess recipe here for more than 30 years and landlords Ray and Jane Carter and their family have the art of running a pub completely mastered. Their staff are proof of this, too – however busy, they have a way of fitting you into the smallish bar or large garden and terrace. Grander dining takes place in a sit-down, bookable restaurant. Wath is a sweet hamlet in a wonderful area for walking; the circular route from Pateley Bridge is especially good, four miles out along the northern fellside and back along the river. Don't miss Wath's tiny Methodist chapel at the end of a row of cottages; and don't fall off the playground seesaw and break your arm, as I did when I was seven.
• Wath-in-Nidderdale, Pateley Bridge, near Harrogate, 01423 711306, sportsmans-arms.co.uk
The Horseshoe, Levisham
A welcoming pub in a classic North York Moors village, all timeworn stone and red pantiles amid the surrounding moors which roll away to the horizon. Listen out, and you'll hear the puff and occasional hoot of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway steam trains. The line has a station, though it's a good step uphill to the pub. Rewards await on a menu which sources fish from Whitby and Hartlepool skippers and real ale from Cropton brewery and Black Sheep. The pub's owners Charles and Toby Wood also run The Fox and Rabbit (foxandrabbit.co.uk) at nearby Lockton which is less picturesquely sited but equally good. Try both on a gentle morning or afternoon round walk.
• Main Street, Levisham, 01751 460240, horseshoelevisham.co.uk
The Birch Hall Inn, Beck Hole
This is a tiny place – "two bars with a sweet shop in the middle", say landlords Neil and Glenys Crampton – but exceedingly pretty and in the middle of the gentler part of the North York Moors which has become known as Heartbeat Country thanks to the nostalgic TV series. Like the now sadly-closed Sun Inn at Spout House in Bilsdale, it is pretty basic but the beer is hand-pulled and the pork pies, Beck Hole butties and Beer Cake are delicious and cheap. The record number of customers crammed into the pub is 30 plus two dogs, but there is a riverside garden. Cute though it is, the pub-and-shop arrangement is entirely "real". It dates back to the early 19th century when railway navvies and miners abounded and this pretty spot was part of the Industrial Revolution.
• Beck Hole, Whitby, 01947 896245, beckhole.info/bhi.htm
The Bull Inn, West Tanfield
West Tanfield is a regular on Beautiful North Yorkshire calendars, a straggle of cottages along the river Ure with a church and ruined pele tower at one end. The Bull has a prime position by the "double" road bridge. Jules the landlady serves up simple but good food and well-kept beer and advises on the many local walks, all gentle because this part of Yorkshire is riverine and flat. If The Bull's full, The Bruce Arms just up the road is less well-placed but is just as friendly and is outstanding for food.
• West Tanfield, 01677 470678, thebullinnwesttanfield.co.uk
• Martin Wainwright is the northern editor of the Guardian and the author of The Coast to Coast Walk (Recreational Path Guides) at £10.39
