Helen Browning’s Royal Oak

You can ride your horse to this quirky pub-with-rooms on Helen Browning’s organic farm – just tell them to expect you. It is promoted from the Shortlist this year at the urging of inspectors, who received ‘a warm welcome from Helen’s partner, Tim Finney, and the dedicated staff, who have created a real sense of community’. Bedrooms, each named after a farm field, have a photo mural and playful rustic details. Football Field (yes, they have one, if not quite up to Wembley standard) has a smart shower room. Cuckoo Pen has ‘an Art Deco feel, silver mirrors, shiny bedroom tables’. Details include ‘trendy antler lamp fittings; an espresso machine’. Guests relax in The Wallow, with tea, coffee, table football. The bar and dining areas mix elements of tradition and wit. Food is big on ‘hearty classics’ (flame-grilled burgers, fish and chips). ‘Particularly good were beef pasta gratin and plum caramel cake.’ Breakfast brings eggs from the hens, ‘specials such as kedgeree’. Outside you’ll find ‘mismatched garden furniture, gazebos strung with fairy lights’, a farm shop, garden kitchen and picnic spots. (SO, and others)