Goldstone Hall

‘Intimate and informal, this characterful, family-run Georgian manor house fits the bill for quiet weekends away,’ say Guide inspectors in 2016. In ‘lovely, well-kept grounds, with an extraordinary kitchen garden’, the ‘uniformly brilliant’ hotel was founded by Helen Ward over 30 years ago. Today, son John Cushing is at the helm; ‘his daughter Victoria, chatty and hospitable, clearly enjoys people’. ‘We were greeted at the door with a welcoming smile (no check-in desk – a nice touch).’ The ‘inviting’ lounges have sofas, leather chairs, ‘a roaring log fire’; tables are ‘nicely spaced’ in the restaurant, where ‘beautifully presented’ modern meals use trugfuls of home-grown vegetables and fruit. ‘A local cheese platter rounded it off.’ Smart bedrooms, including a top-floor family suite, are kitted out with fresh milk and home-made cookies. ‘Our tastefully furnished room had a small sitting area; a deep bath in the bathroom; a delightful view of the grounds. We could’ve slept for days in the super-comfy bed.’ Do wake: breakfast is ‘delicious’: ‘home-baked bread; a nice buffet; perfectly poached eggs; excellent home-made veggie sausages with tasty Staffordshire oatcakes’. (Peter Iles, and others)