Twenty-something miles inland from both Hull and Scarborough sits Nafferton, a village of around 2,600 people in the East Riding of Yorkshire that has quietly perfected the art of doing very little, very well. If your ideal holiday involves packed itineraries and ticking off sights, look elsewhere. If it involves a slow loop around a duck-filled pond and an afternoon in a proper English pub, read on.
The village centre is built around Nafferton Mere, a pond ringed by trees and tidy cottages where swans and ducks hold court. It's an easy, pleasant stroll, and it sets the tone for everything else here.
Then there are the pubs — genuinely the main event. High Street has two standouts a minute apart. Petros and the Cross Keys is a family-run gastropub with a wood-panelled bar, a fireplace for winter, a picnic-table courtyard for summer, and Mediterranean cooking built on local ingredients. Next door, The Star Inn leans Greek, thanks to co-owner Spiros: order the meze banquet and you'll get prawn saganaki, mousaka, feta in pastry, fried meatballs and baklava. It doubles as the village's only accommodation. A ten-minute walk away, the Blue Bell Inn is the traditional option — white brick, beer garden, roaring fire and a pool table when the weather turns.
What makes Nafferton a smart base is the landscape around it. The village sits in the heart of the Yorkshire Wolds, the rolling chalk hills and farmland that inspired David Hockney, and which most visitors to the Yorkshire coast never bother to see. Serious walkers can drive 30 minutes to Millington to join the Yorkshire Wolds Way, a 79-mile trail threading woodlands, valleys and hilltop views. From Nafferton itself you can walk to Driffield or Wansford on paths that cross farmland and follow old railway lines. The deserted medieval village of Wharram Percy is worth the 30-minute drive.
Practicalities: Nafferton is about 40 minutes from Hull by car or train, and roughly the same drive (an hour by rail) from Scarborough. Bridlington's award-winning beaches and fresh seafood are just 15 minutes by train, so you can pair Wolds walking with a seaside afternoon in one day.
This one's for slow-travel types: couples wanting a low-key countryside stay, pub lunch devotees, and walkers who like their trails uncrowded. With only one place to sleep in the village, it works best either as a night at The Star Inn or as a day trip tagged onto a Hull or Scarborough trip — and honestly, the meze alone justifies the journey.
