The Devonshire Arms

This former 17th-century inn, which is part of the Duke of Devonshire’s 30,000-acre estate at Bolton Abbey, is today an impressive country house hotel, with fine dining and a spa. Its notable luxuries – antiques, stylish contemporary furniture, works of art from the Chatsworth collection – are complemented by ‘extremely helpful’ staff. Prompt, efficient service included a ‘fine glass of champagne’ for a swiftly corrected shower problem. Bedrooms range from being ‘quite small’ in the new wing near the road-facing front of the property or overlooking the garden, to four-poster rooms, with larger ones in the original 17th-century, traditionally furnished wing. All have fresh milk and coffee machines, and modern bathrooms with bath and shower. After a ‘beautiful country walk from the door’ choose either the smart Burlington restaurant’s creative taster-menu dishes such as cured sea trout and wasabi, and salt-aged Yorkshire mutton with salsa verde, or the colourful brasserie’s more casual style of ‘good-quality traditional meals such as steak and chips’. ‘We will stay again.’ (See also The Cavendish, Baslow.) (Max Lickfold, and others)