Mallory Court

This Lutyens-style Arts and Crafts manor house with wood panelling and leaded windows presides over landscaped grounds, with lawns, ponds, rose and herb gardens. ‘They would look glorious in bloom,’ mused a trusted reader. The enterprise is part of the Eden Hotel Collection (see also Brockencote Hall, Chaddesley Corbett), and is as indulgent to families as to laptop-tapping business folk. Main house bedrooms have lovely original features, but perhaps the best are the new rooms above the spa in the Orchard House. The style varies from traditional to contemporary and many rooms will sleep three or four, with views over the herb garden or countryside. All have ESPA products, a coffee machine and turn-down service. ‘The room was wonderful at every level, perfect,’ writes a reader this year. Food is good too (Relais & Châteaux), with a choice between brasserie classics and ambitious cooking in the atmospheric dining room, where produce from the kitchen garden appears on modern menus. ‘Lunch in the little restaurant was excellent.’ The breakfast cook passes the scrambled eggs test. (Carole Bloch, RG)