‘Thomas Hardy’s historic Acorn Inn,’ reads the sign outside this 16th-century former coaching inn (it appears as The Sow and Acorn in Tess, and in two of Hardy's short stories).

‘A handsome Georgian house’ and former coaching inn, overlooking the River Stour meadows in a market town, is today ‘a very pleasant hotel’ with ‘lovely staff'.

Carefully restored, with an abundance of quirky details – a stream separates the dining room from bar – this well-designed roadside inn is a social media hit.