After more than 50 years, this country house hotel and spa on the edge of the New Forest still sets the standard for luxury. From garden rooms with balcony or terrace to tree-house suites with hot tub, it has ‘fabulous’ accommodation. ‘Everything is taken care of from the minute you check in.’ But at this sister hotel to Cliveden House, Taplow (see entry), luxury does not mean stuffy: ‘It feels very familiar – you’re greeted with a smile and a hello.’ Staff are ‘charming, efficient, friendly’. There are children’s welcome gifts, a kids’ club, supervised supper. All-day dining options include light bites in The Pool bar, while The Kitchen restaurant (with gleaming cookery school) serves informal fare. In the dining room, executive head chef Simon Addison and head chef Luke Matthews work with local and home-grown produce to create ‘memorable’ dishes including Thai lobster curry; slow-cooked ox cheek, celeriac and horseradish, oxtail cromesquis. A rare note of dissent from a Guide regular in 2018: a terrible breakfast croissant and ‘dinner service wasn’t topnotch. Sky-high prices lead to sky-high expectations, which are not always fulfilled.’ For most guests, however, it was ‘perfect’, ‘super-relaxing’. (Debby Barry, Pauline Weddell, and many more). xxxx