A long drive through parkland brings guests to this Georgian mansion beside the golf course on the edge of town, where Beryl and James Kearney are the ‘warm and friendly’ hosts. They are ‘richly deserving’ of the numerous awards they hold, say Guide inspectors, who were checked in by Mr Kearney (‘all relaxed geniality’) before he carried their cases and printed out their boarding passes for next day’s flight. One of two ground-floor rooms, ‘each on two levels’ with a pine staircase leading up to a galleried sitting room, it ‘exuded good judgement and taste’. It had an original fireplace, a ‘robust’ wooden bed, rugs on wood flooring, underfloor bathroom heating and a spa bath. All rooms have antiques, fresh flowers, handmade toiletries. In VM restaurant in the converted stables, new chef Robert Groot Koerkamp creates such dishes as salt-fried John Stone sirloin steak, saffron potato, shallot, porcini; monkfish, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, pickle, fish sauce. Breakfast brought freshly squeezed clementine juice, stewed rhubarb, eggs scrambled to order. ‘Well-maintained, inter-linked small gardens include a Japanese themed area, complete with pagoda, bridges and pond.’