The Buck Hotel, Richmond

Our home for the night - perfect for ramblers - the room is equipped with a boot tray. Best real ale bar of our entire trip in the Dales. They had five different ones on - I started with an excellent Landlord and I never thought I would say this, but the Copper Dragon just about tipped it. Food was very good too - and the staff were wonderful. A gem. Some photos at my walking blog - http://bit.ly/1SRduGp

Busy with locals and walkers on a misty and murky October Sunday lunchtime. The pub has a seventies feel to it:Dutch prog rock band Focus were billed for later in the month. Ably described by earlier scribes, we found this to be the liveliest of the three pubs in Reeth,serving some welcome changes from the Masham Mafia, including Wylam Gold Tankard. Date of visit:13th October 2013

The bar is in the smaller stone building, which sits at right angles to the taller, white-painted main hotel. There's a small patio for outdoor drinking, and once inside the bar is at the far end of the room. To the left of the bar is a smaller raised room with a pool table and TV. The main room has a fireplace midway along one wall. On the bar are five hand pumps, serving Caledonian Deuchars IPA, Thwaites Wainwright, Black Sheep Bitter, Copper Dragon Best Bitter and Timothy Taylor Landlord. A board outside the door advertises the beers and also mentions four real ciders, but these must be in polypins because they are not apparent on the bar. I found this quite a pleasant pub to sit in for half an hour, but, like the beer selection, perhaps a little predictable and unexciting.