‘An ideal place to slow down and relax.’ It is almost 40 years since Baba Hine and her late husband, Denis, took over an 18th-century coaching inn and opened their ‘graceful hotel’. The hostess remains at the helm with ‘ebullient’ son Giles, attracting a loyal following of guests who return for the ‘old-fashioned values’, ‘friendly, uniformly efficient staff’, ‘very comfortable rooms’ and ‘excellent food and wine’. ‘We don’t normally go back to the same hotel, but Corse Lawn is so reliable that we’ve returned three times.’ Even standard bedrooms are spacious, with tall windows, and walls hung with pictures; all the rooms are supplied with leaf teas, ‘proper coffee’, shortbread, fruit, fresh milk. ‘Our capacious room had a large bed and a settee; a pleasant sitting area; windows peering into the trees.’ Downstairs, the bistro lounge looks out over pond and weeping willow. Eat here or in the restaurant, where long-standing chef Martin Kinahan wins praise for such dishes as trio of Cotswold lamb; chargrilled Orkney salmon, chive beurre blanc. (‘Leave room for the interesting cheese trolley!’) (William Wood, Michael Mayer-Jones, RE Greenhill)