Great Pubs of England: Thirty-three of Britain's Best Hostelries from the Home Counties to the North: Thirty-three of England's Best Hostelries from the Home Counties to the North

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Fascinating map reveals ONE THOUSAND amazing things to do, see - and eat - in Britain, from places with bizarre names to wacky sporting events (fancy entering a shin-kicking contest?

The menu changes daily, at least a little, and is somewhat dependent on the chef's preferences, so as well as high-quality country cooking using mainly seasonal local ingredients you get the odd French-Caribbean twist.Prestel is one of the world's leading illustrated book publishers with a stunning list of beautifully crafted books on all aspects of art, architecture, photography and design. For what seems like a small inn, there are plenty of facilities such as the Red House Spa, which offers a small gym plus treatments and yoga classes for an extra fee. Inside, the former drinkers’ pub has a sassy, metropolitan feel with lots of parquet flooring, panelling, exposed brick walls, and velvet curtains and armchairs.

Much of the menu is based on what’s in season from the Daylesford estate – and you get the best of the organic best. Expect wooden beams and original fireplaces alongside stone baths, furry rugs and bold feature walls.Home to Saddleworth Brewery, Church Inn offers a range of traditional beers, all hand-brewed in small batches with a variety of speciality malt and imported hops. This pub, however, was 'put on the map' by the ska band Madness, which 'packed the place out for six weeks' with ska kids when they were starting out. It's not really a beer pub but offers a wide-ranging wine list – including fine ones by the glass – plus local gins. Inside it’s all whitewashed walls and black window mouldings with beamed ceilings, exposed-stone and solid wood tables.

Food-wise you’ll find seasonally-shifting plates and there are even plenty of alcohol-free beers available, too. The Duke feels every inch the village pub, set in pastoral Kent countryside on the east bank of the Little Stour. The four rooms – named after Kentish grapes and hops (Bacchus, Ortega, Fuggle and Golding) – feature eclectic design courtesy of Rogers, who sources furniture from local reclamation yards and house clearances. Smallish rooms reflect its coaching inn history with a simple, though comfortable, cottagey style of plain walls and carpets, pine or oak furniture, and colourful check or floral furnishings.Head chef and co-owner Peter Neville (previously at Star Inn at Harome) is an advocate of wild, foraged food, reflected in both his tasting and bar-lounge menus: think elderberry-cured salmon carved at the table and Earl Grey panna cotta with passion fruit and blood orange. When therefore Mark, my husband received it as an orchestrated Christmas present, it was more than just a gift, it was the start of a new adventure. The inn dates back to 1560 and behind its pistachio-green façade is a cosy village pub with rustic oak beams, crooked ceilings and vast brick fireplaces.

Coldplay and The Libertines also played some of their formative gigs here, the book reveals – and Amy Winehouse, who lived nearby, ‘treated the pub as her local’. This is a pub where hospitality is the name of the game and they’ve succeeded in delivering that in droves through the delicious dishes that come out of the pass as well as the hugely welcoming vibe of the place. Over the centuries, it’s 'evolved into a warren of idiosyncratic rooms – the Ladies’ Parlour, the Linen Press Room, the Scullery – with tobacco-stained walls, pitched wooden floors, gas lighting, ornate mirrors, and a series of cast-iron fireplaces and open ranges that, when all ablaze, set the fire alarms jangling at such a pitch that they drown out the peal of the bells from nearby Beverley Minster'. Beer is one of the main reasons people go to pubs and, whether you’re one of those Untappd fanatics or simply someone who wants nothing more complicated than ice-cold lager, The Moorcock Inn will have something for you.Inside is like being transported into a rustic-chic corner of Provence, with red-and-black tiled floors, a handsome wood-burner and retro café tables, topped with pots of herbs and candles in wax-covered bottles. Each Halloween, the pub opens up the 'secret' bar, ‘a tiny and crepuscular space under the restaurant with its own concealed entrance’. The pair document over 30 of the most interesting in the book, a “virtual pub crawl”, from spit-and-sawdust to Michelin-starred gastropubs, alongside famous owners such as chef Tom Kerridge and singer James Blunt. But all pubs share the same time-honoured purpose: to offer the warmest of welcomes, and to lift the spirits. Cozy (and dark) pubs aren't always the most accommodating environments for photographers, but low light cameras and photography lighting kits can help to overcome the challenges of capturing the atmosphere inside.