‘Wonderfully located’ above the River Usk, this Victorian former vicar’s house has a ‘timeless quality’. Peta Brabner and Susie and James Suter are, respectively, the second and third generation of the same family to own the hotel. Guests this year were ‘enchanted’ by the drive through the grounds to the Italianate property’s entrance – ‘a delightful introduction’. Lazy days are encouraged: the dusky-rose-coloured drawing room filled with flowers, books and sink-into sofas; activities include croquet, afternoon tea on the ‘huge terrace looking down into the valley to the river’ and fishing on the Usk. The period country house style extends to the bedrooms, some with a Delft-tiled fireplace, canopied four-poster or a balcony. ‘Our large, comfortable bed had excellent linen,’ reports a Guide regular in 2018. Staff are ‘very friendly and efficient’. In the ‘first-class’ dining room, Karl Cheetham uses seasonal, local and home-grown produce for his ‘imaginative’ modern Welsh menu. ‘Each high-quality dish was a work of art.’ Other guests, however, thought it ‘too elaborate’. The ‘extensive breakfast was presented with all the artistry of a master chef’. (Roy Coates, Max Lickfold, M and PB, and others)