‘In rolling countryside with views of mountains and hills’, Anne and Warwick O’Hara run their 19th-century mansion-turned-guest house with a commitment and enthusiasm that delighted our inspectors. After ‘a warm and friendly greeting’, tea and cakes were served by the fire in a drawing room with tall, dual-aspect windows, ‘pretty flower arrangements, original wallpaper from 1896’. Upstairs, a short corridor led to a private bathroom, then to a country house-style bedroom with ‘a smallish brass-framed double bed, white shutters, a simple, tiled fireplace’. All bedrooms have antiques, a comfy armchair, fresh flowers. Before a set dinner cooked by Anne and served at 7.30 pm, guests gather and help themselves to sherry. The candlelit dining room has a rich, red carpet and curtains, 1930s wallpaper. The night’s menu might typically start with smoked salmon, to be followed by braised beef, frangipane tart with strawberry ice cream. Plentiful vegetables are from the kitchen garden. In the morning Warwick dons the apron to prepare and serve breakfast, cooking dishes to order including ‘tasty and appetising poached eggs and black pudding’. The entire stay proved ‘a unique experience, one to be seized on and cherished’.