The Angel Hotel

At the heart of a market town on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, William Griffiths’s Georgian coaching inn is today a stylish contemporary hotel. Sister ventures include the next-door bakery, the Art Shop, which supplies works to adorn Farrow & Ball-painted walls, and the nearby Walnut Tree Inn, where Shaun Hill holds a Michelin star. Smart bedrooms are decorated in restful shades, with bathroom fittings by Villeroy & Boch or Fired Earth, and designer fabrics. ‘All was very nice and efficient, and the staff were lovely,’ writes a reader. ‘Blankets and sheets were provided on request’ for Guide insiders who think duvets are the work of the devil. You can eat in the Foxhunter bar or the Oak Room, from a menu for all tastes, with children’s dishes and good veggie options. Maybe butternut squash and aubergine curry with coconut rice, or dry-aged Welsh beef rib-eye steak. A specialist team bakes pâtisserie, savouries and scones for afternoon teas. At breakfast there is ‘good OJ, delicious granola’, smoked salmon, local sausages. ‘Even my sister, who doesn’t like hotels, said how much she liked the Angel.’ (Josie Mayers, and others)