Guide regulars were drawn to this former 16th-century coaching inn ‘partly for its excellent location; partly because of the Thomas Hardy connection’.

‘Well-regarded’ brewers Hall and Woodhouse have owned this Georgian town-centre inn since 1931. For one reader it is but ‘a useful stopping place’, for another ‘there’s no better place for a choice of Badger Ales’.

Hands-on chef/patron Sarah Lethbridge and her husband, Anthony, have entertained guests at their restored stone-walled country pub for ten years.

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.