Wonderfully old-fashioned’, the Read family’s traditional hotel ‘continues to tick all the right boxes’. ‘Cheerful and helpful staff, nice views, excellent food’ impressed Guide readers this year. The comfortably furnished Victorian house has log fires in the sitting rooms. ‘Our clean, well-appointed room had an equally good bathroom; we slept well on a firm, comfortable bed.’ Morning coffee and afternoon tea can be enjoyed in the lounges or the ‘well-tended’ garden. Andrew Read and Mark Johnston’s ‘interesting menu’ has ‘beautifully presented’ English and French dishes, perhaps brisket slow-cooked in beer, celeriac cream, rosemary roast potatoes, seared broccoli, rich gravy. ‘An innovative and plentiful breakfast, served at table, exceeded expectations’.