‘I count only the sunny hours,’ reads the Latin inscription on the sundial set in the wall above the entrance to this ‘eclectically decorated’ Georgian house. It’s just one of many curious and ‘inspiring’ features in this hotel, restaurant and interiors shop on the marketplace of an ‘appealing’ small town. Guide inspectors found the building ‘tastefully bedecked with interesting furniture and curios, all stylishly displayed – and almost all for sale’. ‘Even the afternoon tea was beautifully presented – china cups and saucers, a lovely teapot, large slices of delicious cake.’ Bedrooms, with a ‘spacious’ marble bathroom, have been conceived with ‘faultless taste’. Each takes as inspiration an element of a 21st-century Grand Tour: China is done in blue and white to ‘astonishing effect’; ‘we could have been in Italy, in our Italian Palace room.’ ‘Uncomplicated food’ is informally served from early to late – perhaps white wine and mustard-braised rabbit, spring greens, mash. An ‘inviting breakfast buffet’ has home-made jams, ‘huge scones’, yogurts and fruit; cooked options come with home-baked bread. ‘Even the Marmite jars looked charming! New owners Andrew Jones and Hannah Springham took over in May 2018.