The Birch Hall Inn, Whitby

Situated just off the Goathland to Grosmont Rail Trail (walking route along the old railway line) turn off near to Incline Cottage. There’s a tiny bar to the right (with one table), a medium sized bar to the left and a traditional old confectionery store in the room in between the two bars which also sells Beckwatter bottle conditioned ales. A beer garden to the rear overlooks the Eller Beck river just before it meets the Murk Esk. We had a fine cheese butty with pork pie and pickle. Another quaint feature is the miniature version of the pub that they sell for alongside your model railway or just to place on top of the TV. Black sheep Best Bitter, Beckwatter Beckhole’s Best Bitter ( nice dark, maltier drink) and Idle Brewery Black Abbot on handpull with a supporting cast of Carlsberg, Guinness and Gray’s Herefordshire Dry Cider. The gaffer told us that the place gets busy in summer, when it stays open all day, but becomes much quieter from September onwards when opening times become 11.00 until 3.00 every day re-opening at 7.30pm except Monday evenings when it doesn’t re-open. The pub also closes on Tuesdays from November. One of Yorkshire’s heritage pubs.

One of the most famous pubs on the North York Moors it sits in a deep valley reached by narrow twisting lanes from the tourist hotspot of Goathland, also known as TV's Aidensfield. Sitting next to the beck it is an odd shaped building probably being a two storey cottage and a three storey cottage knocked together. The public rooms are one very tiny bar, a small shop and a small bar that seats about 12 people. The tiny bar has the counter with three handpumps and a couple of benches and narrow tables. The "main" bar is reached via a side alley that also leads through to the well appointed outside toilets and the beer garden. Once inside there are benches round the walls and three very narrow tables with chairs, somehow a settle and a dart board have managed to squeeze in as well. Service here is by a hatch with the beer choice shown by pumpclips displayed in the hatch. Being a tiny place there is a limited choice of other drinks but the beer is excellent, cask beers from Wells, Black Sheep and Daleside on my last visit. The pub is almost constantly listed in the Good Beer Guide. The décor looks unchanged since before the Second World War which only adds to the rustic charm, naturally there are no screens, music or games machines, just conversation and to look at prints and photos of the pub, village and local people with some hunting prints to complement the hunting scene wall paper on the fireplace. A unique and lovely pub.