Originally published by the Guardian, Saturday 2 May 2009

The A684 across the Yorkshire Dales is worthy of a car advert and blissfully empty. We’re itching to get to Yorebridge House and find out why a boutique hotel with Moroccan, French and even Asian-style rooms has opened in Wensleydale.

Mmm, passes the first impression test – the spicy fragrance of a scented candle fills the hall. We spot more – along with a selection of silvery tea light holders, little embroidered bags and strings of beads – for sale in a display cabinet. It’s a miracle, but Angela and I make it to our rooms without buying anything.

She is on the ground floor in a room called St Jean. It’s pale blue and white, kind of beachy. Wow – there’s a hot tub outside. “I’ll be in that with a glass of something later,” she says. Rattan fencing obscures the carpark but also, unfortunately, the backdrop of hills.

Up and up to my room, Greenwich, an urban-style loft beneath the eaves. This is sometimes used as a family room because it has a snug with a big, black Bang & Olufsen screen. The bathroom’s as big as the bedroom.

His ‘n’ hers slipper baths sit side by side facing a window, for soaking up views of the river Ure of course.

Over tea in the sitting room, we meet owner Dave Reilly, who, with his wife Charlotte, bought this former schoolmaster’s house (and the schoolroom annexe in which more rooms and tubs are currently being added) in 2006 and has spent months replacing purple carpet and woodchip paper with their vision of what a modern small hotel should be.

Every room is styled to evoke a location they love (the Hilton Rangali resort in the Maldives, a Moroccan riad, Greenwich village). The hotel is an oasis of taste and subtlety and unpretentious with it.

Dave used to work for Bang & Olufsen (so that’s the audio-visual stuff taken care of), and Charlotte, who will be on duty tomorrow, has an interior design business – which explains why Yorebridge House hasn’t turned into a theme park.

Manager Neil’s behind the bar this evening. He used to work at Harrogate’s Hotel du Vin and – clever chap – he’s persuaded the man who put the Vin into that, master of wine Gérard Basset, to appraise the wine list. That’s why descriptions are no-nonsense, and the Rémy Massin house champagne (£6.50 a glass), is the same as at Basset’s latest venture, Hotel TerraVina in Hampshire.

We love the restaurant. It’s filled with indoor palms and candlelight. Where the wine list is straightforward, chef James Fiske’s food is far more complex. “John and Greg would be in raptures if a Masterchef contestant served this,” says Angela over seared scallop and cod cheeks with tomato infused roe toast, “heavenly” roast baby fennel puree, peas and pancetta. “Really exciting food,” is her verdict and she’s eaten at some seriously posh joints.

We watch DVDs, try the hotel’s walking routes and enjoy the sunlit restaurant as much by day as night. There are some blots on the landscape – fire doors bang, Angela’s hot tub hums all night and I’m surprised to find a wonky tap in my expensive bathroom. Then again, even in paradise sometimes a little rain must fall.

Best for: A special treat

Yorebridge House
Bainbridge
North Yorkshire
01969 652 060
yorebridgehouse.com

Rooms £160 – £240 per night B&B