Chef/patron Geoffrey Smeddle and his wife, Katherine, run their ‘luxurious, very special’ restaurant-with-rooms in an 18th-century coaching inn close to St Andrews and the Fife coast. A ‘warm welcome’ includes a decanter of sherry in the bedrooms – ‘which we were urged to help ourselves to’. Past the ‘blazing log fire’ in the reception lounge, sit down, in one of three dining rooms, to the sort of ‘outstanding’ modern cooking that earned the restaurant a Michelin star. ‘I had a beetroot starter, veal sweetbreads and an apricot soufflé – all outstanding.’ Diners opting for the leisurely tasting menu may need to clear the evening: ‘The cooking was superb’. Alternatively, eat off the à la carte menu or, like other Guide readers, settle in and enjoy the ‘unhurried feel’. In the separate residence, ‘nice, modern’ suites have a large lounge area stocked with chess, draughts and magazines; a ‘beautifully tended garden’ is ‘lovely both to look out upon, and to sit in’. A continental breakfast is brought to the room at a pre-arranged time. (J and HT-P, Anthony Bradbury)