Surrounded by woodland and fields in the heart of Hardy’s Wessex, Jamie and Ariane Jones’s ‘olde-worlde’ thatched hotel offers ‘a charming and very comfortable stay’. On a visit this year, Guide regulars found the hosts ‘warm and welcoming’, their service ‘personal and friendly’. Jamie Jones’s ‘quite outstanding’ classical French dinners, perhaps mustard- and herb-crusted cannon of Tolpuddle lamb, almond potato, spring cabbage, tarragon sauce; pan-fried fillet of Dorset sea bass, crushed new potato, fresh peas, lemon butter sauce, are served amid stone walls, inglenooks and oak-beamed ceilings. Breakfast included fresh croissants, home-made lemon curd and a ‘good range of cooked options including Bridport kippers’. Some might find the decor ‘a little folksy’, and in 2018 readers reported a night-storage heater left their room ‘like an oven’ in late afternoon, while a fan heater made for a ‘very chilly’ bathroom in the morning. Overall, however, praise for the ‘clean and tidy country-style’ bedroom with ‘lots of spare bedding, still and sparkling water, a long shoehorn (bliss), excellent coffee and home-made brownies’. ‘We would certainly return.’ (Lindsay Hunt and John Fisher, Peter Anderson, SR, and others)