The best ones, says Fiona Stapley, "are so cosy you want to hug yourself." She's talking about pubs and, as editor of The Good Pub Guide, she should know. "Nothing matches the atmosphere in a proper British boozer," she adds. "Crackling fires; comfy, battered furniture; local ales; decent red wine; and simple, rib-sticking food." We asked Fiona to pick her all-time favourites from the 5,000 in her guide. Then we added a walk - straight from the pub door, and just far enough to freshen you up for the fireside.

Unless stated, pubs open daily 11am-11pm; room rates per double, B&B.

1 PEN-Y-GWRYD
Nant Gwynant, Gwynedd

You can smell the history of this mountain inn as you enter - perhaps because one bar has a collection of manky old boots from illustrious mountaineers. You can also see the signatures of Hillary and Norgay on the ceiling - they used Pen-y-Gwryd as a base while training for Everest in 1953.

The inn also acts as a mountain rescue station (with its own chapel and sauna) and I always see climbers in there. Seats face the windows, so you get full-frontal views of Snowdonia.

The walk The Pen-y-Gwryd huddles beside a remote crossroads in the shadow of Snowdon. The most popular start point for the summit, Pen-y-Pass, is a kilometre or so to the west. If the weather is vicious, walk the first three kilometres on the Miners' Track to Llyn Llydaw, then double back.

Less arduous is the Dyffryn Low Level Trail: pick it up east of Pen-y-Gwryd on the A4086. Follow it by the trickling Nant Gwryd for five kilometres, cross the road and return along the skirts of the Glyders to the inn. Beauty has rarely looked bleaker.

Details Pen-y-Gwryd (01286 870211, www.pyg.co.uk) is closed November and December, open weekends only in January and February; chicken and leek pie, £6; doubles from £70. Map: OS Explorer OL17.

2 THE ROYAL OAK
Fritham, Hampshire

This pub is beside the kind of New Forest village green where the cottages seem to melt into the woods. When I last visited, there were pigs and wild ponies snuffling on the grass - it's the only part of Britain where you still get that. The landlord runs livestock in the forest.
The pub is thatch-and-cob, and it feels like walking into someone's front parlour. There are beams holding up the ceiling - and, like as not, a bunch of farmers propping up the walls. It's the simple rusticity that I love: home-made bread, their own pâté and home-baked pork pie. You can go a long way to find a home-baked pork pie these days.

The walk Fritham is on a dead-end road in the less touristy part of the New Forest, north of the A31. Park by the green and follow the lane northwest, where it dwindles into a track through Eyeworth Wood. The forest has a magic of its own in winter, when the naked oaks throw spooky shapes - you've a better than even chance of glimpsing roaming ponies and deer. Bear west then south through the trees, shadowing the boundary of Fritham Plain. There's a clear track back to the pub across the plain - or double the distance to 10km by circling further south through Anses Wood.

Details The Royal Oak (023 8081 2606) is closed 3pm-6pm weekdays October to March; a pork-pie ploughman's, £6. Map: OS Explorer OL22.

3 THE WHITE HORSE
Hedgerley, Buckinghamshire

It's so refreshing to come across a country pub less than five kilometres from the M40 that isn't full of City types from Gerrards Cross. They keep seven real ales here, which they tap from the barrel behind a tiny hatch counter. I always go safe in the knowledge I'm going to have a good time.

The walk Follow the path beside the village pond into Church Wood. It's one of the RSPB's smallest bird reserves, and you may hear the rap of a great-spotted woodpecker. If your legs need more stretching, go due west, to Pennlands Farm. Keep on across the A355 and you're in Egypt Woods, in the Burnham Beeches nature reserve: a place of twisting oaks and skittering squirrels.

Details The White Horse (01753 643225) is closed 2.30pm-5pm weekdays; lamb broth with crusty bread, £4.25. Map: OS Explorer 172.

4 THE NAGS HEAD
Malvern, Worcestershire

This is a town pub, set under the hem of the Malvern Hills, waiting to gather you in as you hurry down off Worcestershire Beacon. Malvern looks lovely in winter, misty and lit with vintage gas lamps. The pub is an idiosyncratic warren of rooms with leather armchairs and church pews. It has a coal fire, houseplants and lots of books you might actually want to read. It feels quite Victorian, actually. They serve 11 real ales and even more single malts. The food is good and simple - and takes a reassuringly long time to come.

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