The Priory

'Service, from the moment we arrived, was superb. The staff couldn't have been more helpful.' A devotee of this luxurious hotel in a 'delightful small town' admires the 'high standards; lovely public rooms and bedrooms'. 'Up to the usual levels,' says another regular visitor this year. It is owned by Anne Turner with brother-in-law Stuart, and managed by her son, Jeremy Merchant. Approached across a green with coloured Georgian houses, and a flagstoned courtyard, the 16th-century former priory has a 'charming quirkiness'. 'The garden is beautifully maintained, terrace in front, lawn sloping down to the River Frome.' The bedrooms vary in size and aspect. 'Our recently renovated large room had a huge double bed, and a fabulous marble-tiled bathroom with a Victorian-style copper bath and an amazing, high-quality walk-through shower.' Public rooms are in 'country house style'. Drinks by a fire in the beamed drawing room precede dinner in the stone-vaulted Abbots' Cellar. Lunch is served in the Garden Room, or alfresco in fine weather. The modern cooking of chef Jon Newing is 'superb' in dishes like salmon, prawn and scallop mousse; roast breast of guineafowl, pine nut and chorizo risotto. 'Good breakfast': freshly squeezed orange juice, a 'proper full English'. (Ian Malone, EJT Palmer, HJ Martin Tucker)