Combe House

'Beautiful setting, magnificent building, memorable food.' With the feel of 'a true country house', this extended Grade I listed Elizabethan building stands up a mile-long drive in a huge Devon estate of woodland, meadows and pastures. The owners, Ken and Ruth Hunt, 'preside informally', supported by 'attentive and knowledgeable' staff. The public rooms (refurbished this year) have carved oak panelling, antiques, fresh flowers, 18th-century portraits. The master bedrooms and suites, in similar style, have also had a make-over. The Linen Suite (the former laundry room) has a six-foot circular copper bath. Bedrooms in the former servants' wing have a country look (floral prints and stripes). In the restaurant, chefs Hadleigh Barratt and Stuart Brown use local ingredients in modern dishes on a seasonal menu, eg, marinated red mullet, celeriac remoulade; roast loin of venison with parsnip purée and Puy lentils. Vegetables come from a new kitchen garden. Breakfast, served until 10 am, has 'toast from three types of home-baked bread, thickly cut and served hot when required'. Children and dogs are welcomed (the latter stay in rooms with a secure walled garden). There is an 'African writers' camp' in an arboretum. (Christopher and Felicity Smith, PEC)