The Brownlow Arms

Wing armchairs, table lamps and a Farrow & Ball palette blend with wooden bar stools and high-back settles in the cosy bar of this 19th-century ironstone and limestone village pub-with-rooms. Warmth comes from both the log fire and from much-loved landlady Lorraine Willoughby, who owns and runs the pub with her husband, Paul, and who readers say is the life and soul of the place. The bedrooms are not huge, but are very attractive, with antique furniture, complimentary biscuits and bottled water, and modern bathrooms with drench showers. In the restaurant, the menus are more high end than pub grub, with dishes such as ‘excellent cheese soufflé’, roast saddle of venison, and good, old-fashioned steak-and-kidney pud. On fine days, eat outside on the terrace and enjoy the rural setting. ‘Breakfast was particularly good.’ The conservation village, formerly part of the Brownlow estate, sits atop an escarpment with views over the Trent and Belvoir vales. ‘Excellent accommodation and wonderful meals in a very interesting setting,’ sums up a reader this year. ‘Highly recommended.’ (Roger Griffiths, Mary and Rodney Milne-Day, and others)