With a lily-scented terrace in the summer and a log fire in the winter, all is ‘enchanting’ at this ‘elegant, comfortable’ Georgian manor house. Sarah Burgoyne runs it with ‘flair and efficiency’. ‘Arriving at Old Whyly is a delight – there’s always freshly baked cake and a cup of tea, served on delicate china,’ says a Guide reader this year. Spacious bedrooms overlook the ‘glorious gardens’; Irish linens and woollen blankets add to the country house style. Gather with fellow guests for aperitifs in the ‘welcoming’ drawing room filled with books and paintings; dinner is served in the candlelit dining room or, in balmy weather, under a vine-covered pergola. A Paris-trained cook, the hostess uses local and home-grown produce in her modern menus, perhaps including spinach-ricotta gnocchi, wild rocket; duck breast, red cabbage. At a ‘hearty’ communal breakfast, honey comes from bees in the orchard, eggs from the hens and ducks that wander the grounds. ‘The marvellous home-made marmalade is a particular treat.’ Book early for Glyndebourne (a ten-minute drive away), and for ‘Sarah’s practical, delicious tiffin-box picnics’. (Catrin Treadwell)