With views over meadows and marshes to the sea, this hotel with award-winning dining bedazzles with its vibrant interiors within the walls of a Victorian farmhouse. Behind the scenes, bedrooms have more of a Hamptons-style coastal cool. Dog-friendly ground-floor rooms in the herb garden have a hot tub while two shepherds' huts have a log-burner, a shower, a terrace with sunken spa bath. 'Our room was warm and cosy, with an arched window overlooking a wall with grapes dangling,' readers report. Dine casually in the eating rooms, or more formally in the 'beautifully decorated' conservatory. Chef-patron Eric Snaith's parents bought the hotel back in 1988, so he's had plenty of time to hone his cooking skills (you can sample them further at his fine chippie down the road in Thornham). Food in the Conservatory restaurant (serving dishes such as Brancaster mussels, venison loin with honey-roasted celeriac, or filleted plaice with roasted cauliflower) is highly praised – 'absolutely wonderful, cooked perfectly'. Breakfast, served by 'really cheery staff', was 'the best we have enjoyed in a hotel for a good few years'. (K&VS, SP)