If it wasn't for pesky Sikkim in India (snow-capped mountains, big wow) and the over-rated Kimberley in Australia (rugged, lake-speckled terrain, like anyone's interested in that), North Yorkshire would have been Lonely Planet's Best in Travel destination for 2014. Which is to say we came third, but when you're 'beaten' by locations that can't boast rolling fields, medieval villages, quaint coastal retreats, historic churches and sheer, forest-filled gorges all within a square mile of each other, it really feels like a backhanded win.