In wooded grounds in a valley looking over farmland to pretty Cartmel village, this 400-year-old manor house, long owned and run by the Varley family, offers reassuringly traditional comforts. Readers (many of whom return year after year) call it ‘an oasis of peace and tranquillity in beautiful countryside’. In its lounges are comfortable, deep sofas, china ornaments and brass fenders around open fires. ‘An ideal venue to relax over coffee and talk with other guests – no background music here!’ The windows frame pleasing views. ‘Good-sized bedrooms’ are furnished in simple country house style with patterned wallpapers and modern oak furniture; second-floor rooms have beams and a sloping ceiling. In the panelled Georgian dining room, daily-changing menus offer ‘excellent’ and sophisticated British dishes such as guineafowl and leek terrine, and oven-baked cod with prawn and shallot butter; the choice of two-to-five courses is appreciated by readers. Breakfast includes locally smoked haddock with poached egg as well as the full Cumbrian. Staff ‘combine efficiency with first-class service in a friendly and unobtrusive manner’.