The walk The Malvern Hills are ideal for a winter walk - maximum elevation for minimum effort. Start along St Ann's Road, in Great Malvern, and turn right across the flanks of North Hill. Beyond Ivy Scar Rocks, zigzag to the summit - at 396m, just steep enough to ruddy your cheeks. Track south along the ridge to conquer Worcestershire Beacon. The Cotswolds plain stretches one way, Wales the other, and you can see how local boy Elgar came to write Pomp and Circumstance. Descending, dodge left before the B4218 and take a path to St Ann's Well, fabled source of Malvern's spa water. More potent refreshment beckons in Bank Street - the Nags Head.

Details The Nags Head (01684 574373) has home-made steak and Stilton pie, £8.50. Map: OS Explorer 190.

5 THE MOULIN
Moulin, Perthshire

Country inns in Scotland can be a bit antiseptic, and from the outside this could be the same: imposing and whitewashed, with lots of extensions. But the oldest part - the original coaching inn, dating from 1695 - still feels like a village local. It has fresh flowers and open fires, dominoes and bar billiards. What clinches it is that they brew their own ales, in the stable across the street. There are also robust lunches, although I can't vouch for the deep-fried haggis with piquant sauce.

The walk Pitlochry is one of those Victorian inland resorts, cheerful and attractive - with Scotland's oldest distillery and nature trails along Loch Faskally. For a six-kilometre sharpener from the inn, head west via Balnacraig Farm towards the Tay Forest Park. The lane becomes a track into the forest, all Christmassy with Norwegian spruce and Scots pine. Pick up the Dunmore Trail to the summit of Craigower: here the tree canopy opens to reveal wide views of lochs and bens, and the wind can blow the bags from under your eyes. Follow yellow waymarks north off the hilltop, back around the eastern slopes on a forestry road to rejoin your outward route.

Details The Moulin (01796 472196) has haggis, neeps and tatties from £6.50; doubles from £70. Map: OS Explorer 386.

6 THE CB INN
Arkengarthdale, Yorkshire

The licensees here have been really clever, creating a top-notch food pub with pretty, rustic bedrooms - but keeping it informal, with an especially cracking fire. There's definitely a foodie feel to the place, and the landlord, Charles, does the cooking himself, with local ingredients and lots of imagination. Who'd think of a black pudding, olive, pancetta and avocado salad?

The walk Arkengarthdale is the northernmost dale of all, starkly scenic and nothing like as busy as Swaledale, which it adjoins. That's possibly why it was used as a location for the cow-molesting BBC classic All Creatures Great and Small. Begin by crossing the dale to Scar House and then aim south through woods into Langthwaite village. It has a postage-stamp square, honey-coloured cottages, a traditional shop and another super pub, the Red Lion.
Cross Arkle Beck and turn left through Arkle Town to pick up a heathery track southwest across Calver Hill. Soon you'll be among the shafts and shake holes of 19th-century lead workings, now abandoned to the ghosts. Continue west to Fore Gill Gate and turn right back to the inn. You'll have earned your lunch - and Charles's home-made ice cream.

Details The CB Inn (01748 884567, www.cbinn.co.uk) has pot-roast lamb with honey, tomato and rosemary sauce, £8.60; doubles from £85. Map: OS Explorer OL30.

The Good Pub Guide 2007 is published by Ebury Press, £14.99

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