Montagu Arms

In a lovely village roamed by New Forest ponies, this Victorian Arts and Crafts inn on the Beaulieu river is run as a luxurious, characterful hotel, with fine-dining restaurant and a pub in a 1920s wing. Leaded casements, panelling and brick fireplaces lend a historic feel. ‘I love the log fires,’ wrote a reader, after ‘a lovely weekend’. The ‘friendly, cheerful staff could not be more helpful’. ‘Delightful’ inn rooms and suites have restful decor, antiques, perhaps a four-poster, a modern bathroom. Two duplex suites in a converted 1820s barn overlooking the Gertrude Jekyll-inspired garden have a freestanding bath, a drench shower, and a decanter of gin to sip upstairs in the sitting room. All rooms have cut flowers and White Company toiletries (surely a nod to past guest Arthur Conan Doyle, who used Beaulieu Abbey as a setting for The White Company). In the Terrace restaurant, Matthew Whitfield works creative wonders with produce from coast, countryside and kitchen garden. Maybe Beaulieu Estate roe deer, fish from Lymington. Or pop into Monty’s bar for a home-made Scotch egg if you fancy a substantial meal. (Geoffrey Bignell)