Christmas Dinner in North Yorkshire
 

My family and I, eight of us, will be staying in Pickering, North Yorkshire, for Christmas week. We are looking for a great place to have Christmas lunch or dinner. Does anyone have any suggestions? We are open to traveling 45 minutes to an hour for a great place. Thanks for any and all help.

Helmsley is not far from you--very pretty village. I would try The Black Swan and The Feathers--both have rooms and restaurants so likely will be serving Christmas lunch, and the food is very good.

feathershotelhelmsley.co.uk

blackswan-helmsley.co.uk

You are right to get on this right away due to the size of your party and the fact not many places are open Christmas Day. You should also check Whitby and Scarborough (I am not a huge fan of either and believe the hotels, for the most part, will have bog-standard menus for coach trips) but am sure there are exceptions. There are some nice family-run places in Whitby but doubt they're open Christmas Day.

Of course there's York which would be an easy in and out on Christmas Day.

Finally, there might be a good pub in Pickering doing Christmas lunch, can you check with your landlord?

I certainly wouldn't want to have to drive an hour in North Yorkshire, in late December, for a meal.

IMO you'd be better off sticking to Pickering or very nearby.

Maybe the Ox Pasture Hall near Scarborough?? About 15 miles from Pickering.

The Fox and Hounds is just up the road - maybe 4 or 5 miles but probably isn't as posh as you are looking for.

The White Swan in Pickering is excellent and well worth checking out if you don't want to travel far. It's a lovely old building right in the centre of town and the food is great.
If you want somewhere REALLY special then the Michelin starred Black Swan at Oldstead is superb and (in my view) by far the best in the area (I live locally and eat out a lot). There are lots of Black Swans around and this isn't the one mentioned in the first reply above.
http://blackswanoldstead.co.uk/
Another couple of places to look at -
http://www.wreaheadhall.co.uk/restaurant.html
http://www.theanvilinnsawdon.co.uk/
I'd get booked up as soon as you can - and expect to pay quite a lot!
I'd love to be able to recommend James Martin's new place in Malton (The Talbot) but we had a disappointing experience here, as did many others if you look at the reviews it is getting. I also avoid the Star at Harome these days - last time we went the tables were so close together it was embarrassing.

Meant to give you the link to the White Swan
http://www.white-swan.co.uk/

Morgana, thank you for the link to the Oldstead property. We are seriously considering canceling our current room reservations in York in favor of that establishment. I am waiting now to hear back from an e-mail enquiring about accommodations in August 2015.

Dukey, although I don't live that far away from Oldstead I have actually stayed there overnight on one occasion and can vouch that it was absolutely lovely!
I've longed for a huge copper bath tub ever since.

The black swan is reported in the top 100 restaurants in today's Sunday times, alongside Yorke arms, ramsgill and crab and lobster, asenby both in north yorkshire.