Newforge House

There is a happy sense of continuity at this classic Georgian country house, where sixth-generation owners Louise and John Mathers have been welcoming guests since 2005. Standing in extensive, mature gardens, it is filled with heirloom antiques, paintings and mementos. Bedrooms bear the maiden names of past chatelaines. Bijou Waddell (after John’s grandmother Emily), overlooking the rockery, has candy-striped wallpaper, a canopy bed draped with toile de Jouy fabric, a marble-floored bathroom. Beaumont has a half-tester bed, floor-to-ceiling windows, a bathroom overlooking the rose garden. In the evening, guests gather in the drawing room for aperitifs – perhaps a Newforge rhubarb and rose gin fizz or apple whisky sour. An accomplished chef, John cooks a seasonally inspired dinner while Lou turns her hand to desserts. Imagine turf-smoked wild salmon, horseradish panna cotta; roast loin of wild halibut, tarragon and dulse beurre blanc; chocolate nemesis, cardamom ice cream, blackberry coulis. After a full Ulster with eggs from the contented hens, have a dander round the grounds, discovering the walled garden and orchard.