‘Timeless standards of comfort’ keep guests coming back to this Italianate mansion ‘in a wonderful position’ on the River Usk. The sporting hotel, ‘a fine house’, has been owned by three generations of the same family for 72 years; today, Susie and James Suter and Peta Brabner are at the helm. Past the foyer wallpapered in fishing prints, bedrooms are decorated in period country house style – a spread of toile de Jouy here, a hand-embroidered canopy over a four-poster bed there. Downstairs, dusky-rose walls are hung with paintings in the book- and flower-filled drawing room – a popular spot for afternoon tea. Come evening, chef Karl Cheetham uses seasonal, local and home-grown produce in his ‘flavourful, inventive’ modern dishes, perhaps roast lamb, crisp sweetbread and faggot, swede mash, rosemary tuile. ‘It’s first-class value for money,’ say regular Guide readers this year. ‘And we appreciate that the chef responds to special requests if he is able.’ In sunshine, laze on the terrace, or follow an ‘impressive’ walk among ‘magnificent’ specimen trees. (M and PB, and others)