Philip and Sheila Mepham’s gabled dining-pub-with-rooms ‘by the village green’ is a consistent hit with returning Guide readers who find it ‘as good as ever’. Nine bedrooms, two in a separate cottage, are decorated in country-chic style. Some rooms have a bath, some a shower, and some a combination of the two, though one visitor this year reports a ‘lack of attention to detail’ in the bathrooms. Bedrooms are ‘well furnished and comfortable’. ‘There is no passing traffic, so peace prevails.’ No guest lounge, but a pretty garden for alfresco eating. The ‘real attraction’ at this former hunting lodge is the ‘excellent’ food served in the restaurant, which shares the surprisingly contemporary open-plan space with the bar. Start perhaps with home-cured salmon, confit beetroot, wasabi crumb and dill crème fraîche, and follow with pan-roasted cod, pearl barley, chorizo, greens and tarragon sauce vierge; a lemon and blueberry torte. Breakfast is ‘rather perfunctory’, the buffet lacking ‘fruit, cold meats and cheeses’; but the ‘very good sausages’ and croissants more than 
pass muster. A rural gem in a ‘great location’ with staff who are ‘efficient and friendly’. (Robert Cooper, PA)