The Millstream

‘The warmth of the welcome, the good food, the atmosphere and the unspoilt environs are hard to beat,’ writes a regular Guide correspondent in 2016, of the Wild family’s hotel in a ‘charming’ village near Chichester harbour. ‘It gently hums with activity. We appreciated the enthusiastic welcome from the young staff: our bags were swept up and delivered to our room while we sat for a drink by the log fire.’ The ‘immaculate’, extended 18th-century building is ‘kept in pristine condition’; returnees, who like the ‘traditional decor and ambience’, consider it ‘like an old friend’. Choose among ‘comfortable’ bedrooms, all ‘well equipped’ with dressing gowns and biscuits (but ‘dreaded’ captive hangers); the best have French doors leading to a private garden. Two ‘quiet’ suites are in a thatched garden cottage, reached via ‘well-lit’ paths and a bridge across the stream. In the evening, dine informally in Marwick’s brasserie, or sample Neil Hiskey’s modern dishes, perhaps fillet of bream, shellfish bisque, crab beignet, in the restaurant. ‘The cooked breakfast is a treat.’ ‘I left feeling a lot better than when I arrived.’ (Alec Frank, Michael Gwinnell, Robin Wright, Ian Marshall)