The Gunton Arms

Oozing bonhomie and good cheer, this country pub with its robust food, flamboyant art and country house-style bedrooms is a memorable place to stay. ‘Unique and fascinating; we enjoyed it tremendously,’ said inspectors of this 19th-century brick-and-flint lodge house set in a 1,000-acre deer park. Country inn essentials – open fires, stripped-wood floors, scrubbed tables, snooker room – are vamped up with a London-gallery collection of art (the owner is art dealer Ivor Braka) including Lucian Freud, Anthony Caro and Tracey Emin. Expect David Bailey photographs in the loos, and Gilbert & George in the dining room. Stuart Tattersall (Mark Hix-trained) serves up punchy food such as deer rump with goose-fat roast potatoes and crab pasta with chilli and coriander; beef and venison are cooked over the fire in one dining room. Bedrooms have an Edwardian elegance with William Morris wallpapers, antiques, rich fabrics and marbled bathrooms. There are blankets, not duvets; Roberts radios, not TVs. Gaze over the deer park from the clubby sitting rooms with more fires and art as well as books. A rock’n’roll adventure.