Corse Lawn House

Pink without and peachy within, this Queen Anne-style mansion, in a rural hamlet with views to the Malvern hills, has been owned by the Hine family since 1978. Run today by Baba Hine, with a team of long-serving staff, it inspires loyalty among Guide readers. ‘It is just lovely,’ writes one who has known it for 18 years and has seen little change. Public rooms done in shades of apricot and pastel orange have ‘wonderfully quirky furniture’ and paintings by Baba’s great-grandmother. ‘Don’t expect “boutique”’, but if you want a ‘comfortable, traditional, not overly formal hotel’, with pool and tennis court, here it is. ‘The welcome is warm’, bedrooms are spacious: ‘You can dance about in them without hitting the furniture.’ Some have a four-poster or canopy bed, perhaps a balcony; all have leaf tea, a cafetière, fruit, home-made biscuits and a fridge with fresh milk. New chef Chris Exley’s sustainably sourced cooking is served in the bistro, the restaurant or alfresco. A typical dish might be charred lamb fillet, confit shoulder and salsa verde. ‘It never ceases to delight.’ (Joanna Gibbon and Paul Lindsell, and others)