Battlesteads Shortlist*

Dee and Richard Slade’s ‘well-run’ hotel, restaurant and village pub stands out for its ‘laudable’ approach to sustainable tourism. Modern menus, ‘well cooked and varied’, use locally sourced produce and the bounty from the kitchen garden and mushroom farm, with duck, chicken and salmon smoked on site. The walled garden is a popular spot for birds and red squirrels; the dark sky observatory is simply ‘amazing’. 'Food excellent, staff attentive and enthusiastic,' summed up a guest. Bedrooms, with bright furnishings, are in the main building and in wooden lodges to the rear. Some may be ‘on the small side’, but one reader's was 'very spacious and well equipped with water bottles for walkers'. (Christine Smythe, Anthony Livesey)