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The pub is a whitewashed cottage in a quiet village, run by Alastair and Claire Ross, where seasonal ingredients are locally sourced and get a gourmet touch. Alastair spent 14 years in London working at The Savoy and Leith's and clearly felt the need to leave the pampered south for a change of scenery.

Imaginative starters may include smoked haddock and steamed Shetland mussels with curry butter sauce and roast quail with wild mushroom tortellini. Main courses continue the tantalisation of taste buds with best end of lamb with Boulangere potatoes and Provençal vegetables, and fillet of turbot with lobster and tarragon cannelloni. The Yorkshire folk certainly do like their puddings, both savoury and sweet, and the Oak Tree doesn't let you down with such sweet treats as wine-poached plums with honey and yoghurt ice-cream, coffee crème brûlée and peanut butter parfait with mocha sorbet and blueberries.

To the North, where conditions can be harsher than in the sunbelt south, therefore comfort more important than ever. Welcome to The CB Inn (short for Charles Bathurst) where, whatever your intent, your comfort and convenience are paramount.

In the magnificent new kitchen, built at a cost of around £200,000, Charles Cody has seen good food as a major priority, and backed up with the best of local ingredients it certainly produces the desired effect. With locally butchered lamb and beef from nearby Swale Hall, locally shot game, and fresh fish from Hartlepool, nothing is left to chance.

Expect to find asparagus and Wensleydale cheese tartlet, or chicken leg, ham hock and black pudding terrine with Cumberland sauce, followed by fillet of beef on oxtail terrine, and pan fried halibut fillet with leek and fennel terrine.

Puddings of Southern Comfort and honey crème brûlée, or a white chocolate marquise with apricot compote, all served in friendly, warm surroundings with a decent wine list and local beers to fully refresh the palate.

Keep a lookout for the Mouseman furniture throughout the inn, if you can tear yourself away from the magnificent scenery outside.

Nestled in Richmond's historic environs, dining at The Frenchgate is more than just eating out. The period elegance of its Georgian dining room, with traditional oak tables and chairs set on original, restored boards, combines with subtle lighting, fine crockery, cutlery and glassware, to enhance the pleasure of partaking of the fine contemporary cuisine served here.

Dinner at The Frenchgate can begin with shellfish chowder or sliced prosciutto with figs. Then you could consider moving on to pan roast loin of wild boar with chargrilled aubergine, fillet of wild East Coast sea bass with peperonata and smoked eel tortellini or poached potato gnocchi with balsamic roasted cherry tomatoes. As the meal comes to an end, look forward to dark chocolate marquise with stem ginger ice cream, banana tarte tatin with pistachio sorbet or lemon posset with raspberries to round off in style.

At the bar, choose a classic vintage or a New World innovation, or go for a fine spirit or liqueur. You can also enjoy a range of both local bottled ales, and imported beers from around the world.

Proceeding up and down the A1, whether it be (M) or not can be a pretty soul-destroying business, both gastronomically and otherwise, perhaps never more so than in the region round about Scotch Corner. The Black Bull provides a welcome, if albeit temporary return to a decent standard of food and welcome, with the additional attraction that you will be dining in a former Brighton Belle Pullman carriage, where any formality is tempered by the relaxation offered by excellent, friendly service.

Emphasis is on seafood with some pretty imaginative interpretations to tempt the tastebuds. A typical menu could include oysters or smoked salmon, followed by lobster thermidor or with garlic butter, some wild sea bass or a faultlessly prepared Dover sole. However, this is no exclusion zone and the menu may list roast rack of lamb or pan fried fillet of beef. At lunchtime a good range of lighter meals are available in the bar, with a roaring fire for a comfortable background, particularly on one of those days when the A66 to Penrith is blocked by snow - again.

Some very recognisable and local draught beers are kept well, but the wine list is the real star, which represents really good value and choice. Bottles of house wine start at £12.95 and three off the list come at £3.75 the glass. No children under 7 years.