Live life close to the land at Hari and Colin Fell’s ‘refreshing, very special’ hotel, on a one-time farm in the Forest of Dean. The former farmhouse, barn and cider house, ‘renovated to a high standard’, stand in acres of ancient grassland surrounded by fields grazed by sheep and ponies – it’s a landscape best explored, perhaps, under the tutelage of Raoul, the in-house forager, who leads guests in search of wimberries and other wild treats. Closer to home, orchard and potager supply chef Rob Cox’s super-local 20-mile menu of ‘imaginative, well-presented and tasty’ dishes, perhaps ‘excellent’ guineafowl, boulangère potato, or roasted carrots, raisins, lime, nasturtium. (Just leave room for a ‘substantial’ dessert.) Modern bedrooms are ‘attractive and calming’, with original beams, wool blankets and home-made shortbread, perhaps an espresso machine or a roll-top bath. ‘We had one of the smaller rooms, but it was perfectly adequate – well equipped and quiet, with a comfy bed, a good walk-in shower and plenty of storage space.’ In the morning, a ‘very good’ breakfast fuels walks among the wild flowers. (Jane Bailey, Peter Anderson, Josie Mayers)