Contented guests praise the ‘friendly, efficient staff’, ‘comfy beds’ and ‘good food’ at Philip Mepham’s inn on the village green. Past the assertive porch of the 19th-century hunting lodge, enter the open-plan bar and restaurant: there are timber and flagstone floors, comfortable contemporary styling, armchairs and banquettes, walls variously papered, painted, panelled and hung with prints. Modern bedrooms, in ‘small’, ‘medium’ and ‘large’, are decorated with restful colours; two are in a cottage behind the inn. ‘Our good-sized room had a four-poster bed, and two armchairs next to the large window overlooking the green. Despite our being in the village centre, our room was quiet. We slept well.’ When Cromwell passed this way in the Civil War, he found Long Sutton ‘extremely wanting in provisions’. Things have looked up since chef Chris De Courcy Wheeler arrived at the inn: his ‘excellent’ country cooking might include home-cured salmon, cucumber and dill salad; Somerset pork belly cassoulet. Open fires warm in cool weather; on fine days, eat alfresco on the lawn, or get stuck into croquet, boules, a game of garden Jenga. (PA)