‘We had breakfast in the restaurant overlooking the most attractive garden,’ write readers, well pleased with this hotel in a New Forest village on Beaulieu Water. They had arrived the night before in a downpour, and found the reception ‘dark and gloomy’, the place ‘apparently deserted’. What a difference a day makes! By morning, ‘The sun was out… The hotel was full and had a definite buzz…The staff were helpful and attentive, the public rooms and sitting-out areas in the garden comfortable, our room was comfortable and well equipped.’ Interiors are traditional, with oak panelling, brick fireplaces, leaded windows. Some bedrooms have a four-poster or half-tester bed and, if ‘not of the latest design’, they are characterful. In a converted barn, two duplex suites have freestanding bath and private terrace. In the restaurant, ‘the food is delicious, the ambience great’. Matthew Whitfield, the head chef, exploits the organic kitchen garden to create such dishes as roast saddle of Everleigh Farm venison, home-grown artichokes, red wine-braised salsify and venison ‘hotpot’. At breakfast, eggs are from the hotel hens. ‘We would definitely go back.’ (Robert Cooper, Monty Knight-Olds)