Lower Bockhampton is in Thomas Hardy country, and what could be more Hardyesque than this ‘pretty cottage hotel’ in the former home of a local shepherd? ‘We have been there several times since Jamie and Ariane Jones bought it, and it remains a favourite,’ say recent guests.

The ‘outstanding’ food made from fresh local ingredients at this ‘wonderful restaurant-with-rooms’ on the edge of Shaftesbury’s historic town centre has presumably come a long way since that served when the building operated as a girls’ boarding house.

Hands-on chef/patron Sarah Lethbridge and her husband, Anthony, run this ‘very friendly’ stone-walled country pub in a pretty village four miles from Sherborne.

The village stream runs between the dog-friendly bar and the bookshelf-lined restaurant of this stylishly updated roadside inn, in a peaceful rural setting between Shaftesbury and Blandford Forum.