Arise and go now, and go to Uppingham, to find this ‘delightful hotel in a delightful town’, its poetic name recalling WB Yeats’s yearning for the peace of Innisfree. Instead of the poet’s clay-and-wattle cabin, Janine and Richard Burton’s hotel and popular restaurant (‘it has the locals piling in’) occupies an 18th-century building on the High Street. Here, Stuart Mead’s modern fusion cooking (perhaps molasses-cured rump of lamb, heritage carrots, whipped feta, couscous) may make poets of us all. ‘We’ve never had a less-than-perfect meal here. And the puddings are to die for,’ writes a Guide reader who has known the place for years. Plus, ‘the food is some of the best at the price in the country’. Some bedrooms may be petite – guests wanting to spread out should book a cottage room with a sitting area – but ‘they’re plenty big enough, and right for the price’. ‘Ours had a small bathroom; all was scrupulously clean.’ In the morning, find ‘proper choices and a proper feast’ at breakfast. Drive now, and drive to Rutland Water, to hear lake water lapping by the shore. (KJ Salway, CLH, AD and J Lloyd)