Tan Hill Inn

UK England North East England North Yorkshire Reeth

Few pubs in Britain are as famous as the Tan Hill Inn, the UK’s highest pub – over 1,700 feet up in the remote Yorkshire Dales – which means it’s a place of pilgrimage as much as anything else. To get there, you negotiate twisting single-track roads to what they describe – with only minimal exaggeration – as “the top of the world”. Cut off by deep snows in winter, and blowing a gusty breeze most times of the year, this is a pub for aficionados but despite the middle-of-nowhere-farmhouse vibe there’s nothing barebones about it. A hiking and biking crowd keeps things convivial, the food is excellent value (and meals are served all day, so there’s no rushing against the clock to get here) and half a dozen cask ales oil the chat and good cheer. Add to that riotous music nights – by definition, “the highest gig in Britain” – and the Tan Hill makes for a brilliant detour, wherever you’re headed in the Dales. No one is likely to be turned away either – as well as guest bedrooms and bunk-rooms, there’s parking for motorhomes and a truly wild campsite from where the views go on for ever.