‘Effortless charm and warmth’ personify Tiina Carr’s ‘vibrant’ hotel, a ‘stone’s throw’ from the Botanical Gardens. Sheffield-inflected hygge, the Scandinavian holistic concept of cosiness, seeps through the Finnish-born owner’s elegant parkside Edwardian house, from the ‘warm, professional’ staff to the ‘Scandi-chic’ style. Throughout, muted hues, wooden floors and huge windows; a subtle bird theme evokes Picasso, said to have stayed in the building while attending a peace conference. Bedrooms might have a copper bath, or an Arne Jacobsen bubble chair suspended from the ceiling. Each has a ‘comfortable’ bed, rich lambswool blankets, a little baked treat, an espresso machine and comfy robes. ‘Though roadside, I slept soundly.’ Down in the restaurant, visitors in 2018 particularly enjoyed chef Leslie Buddington’s ‘“small plates concept” of Nordic-style dishes, which were delivered with great skill’. The vegetarian celeriac steak with pickled apple ‘satisfied even the die-hard carnivore’. Breakfast on banana-coconut pancakes, ‘beautifully grilled’ bacon. A redeveloped terrace opened in the summer. (M and T Sachak-Patwa, Robert Sandham)