‘Here’s a taste of Cotswold heritage: mullioned windows, beamed ceilings, flagstone floors, the sweet smell of wood smoke.’

‘However you look at it, it’s truly a delight.’

Village gossip, quaffable ciders and country-chic accommodation combine at this popular stone-built restaurant-with-rooms (Calcot Hotels) in a pretty Cotswold village.

In leather and tweed, burnished wood and rustic plaid, Dominic Wood’s ‘lovely old pub’ is a ‘delightful, friendly place’.

The log fires still burn within the old stone walls, the mismatched furnishings still stand; the vegetable patch continues to push up fresh ingredients for lunch and dinner.

‘Completely serene’, Nicola and Archie Orr-Ewing’s ‘sweet Cotswold-stone inn’ stands on the village green, a brook trickling by – here’s ‘a good spot for reading in sunny weather’.

‘The wonderful setting alone – in a gorgeous village hidden on the banks of the Thames – makes this a desirable place to stay’, but visitors to the 17th-century inn discover much more to like.

Come for the pizzas, stay for the pause – in one of the bright, contemporary bedrooms at this refurbished honey-stone inn, eight miles from Oxford city centre.

Flagstone floors, stone walls and a huge fireplace are expected of an 18th-century coaching inn in the Cotswolds. Unexpected, and wholly welcome, is the quirky sophistication that owners Lana and Sebastian Snow have brought to their dining pub-with-rooms.

In a Cotswold village, this 18th-century stone-built pub-with-rooms is a lively community hub.