THE STAR Inn at Harome has been named one of the best places to stay in the country.

The 14th century hotel and restaurant is listing in the new edition of The 2017 Sunday Times Best Places to Stay, to be published this Sunday, October 15.

The special edition of The Sunday Times Travel section provides a concise guide to the top places to rest your head. Six hotels in the North and North East are included in this year’s list of 100 best places to stay, including winner of the best spa hotel, Rudding Park, North Yorkshire.

Other hotels in the top five include The Principal York,Rudding Park, and Swinton Park.

The brief to The Sunday Times writers is simple: comfort, service and value are essential, but to be included, a hotel also needs to have qualities that are less tangible, including personality and warmth. The 100 places to stay slot into one of ten categories: country, seaside, family, posh pubs, foodie, city, spa, romantic, budget and B&B. This year’s list includes 35 new hotels and 40 have made it onto the list again from previous years.

Stephen Bleach, Travel Editor, The Sunday Times, said: "It's great to see the north stamping its authority on the UK's increasingly important spa scene. Rudding Park and Swinton Park in Yorkshire have both invested millions in wellness facilities that give Asia's big names a run for their money. This region offers a huge variety of places to stay, from cute country pubs to elegant stately piles, as well as some of the most stunning scenery in the country."