Montagu Arms

This handsome wisteria-covered Victorian building, in a picturesque village by the Beaulieu river on the edge of the New Forest, is a pleasing prospect. It is today a luxury hotel with a fine-dining restaurant and a pub, Monty’s Inn. There is a wide choice of bedrooms, mixing contemporary and traditional style. Some overlook a Gertrude Jekyll-inspired garden, some have a four-poster, a bay window from which to watch free-ranging ponies and donkeys sauntering by. Dog-friendly, open-plan courtyard studios surround a courtyard garden, and have a private terrace, a marble bathroom with under-floor heating, a freestanding bath and walk-in shower, a minibar and decanter of gin. In the Terrace restaurant, local and organic home-grown produce is used for dishes such as Isle of Wight black garlic with roasted gnocchi, and line-caught pollack with Fowey mussels. Sunday lunch might bring roast rack of Hampshire pork with beef dripping potatoes. Or pop into the pub for a burger; your dog can join you. ‘We greatly enjoyed our stay.’ (GB, Tom and Sarah Mann)