Forged from the coastal villa of an aristocratic MP this ‘gloriously Gothic mini-Hogwarts, all gargoyles and turrets’ gazes out across the sea to Old Harry Rocks. Though it was ‘heaving with young weekend visitors’, regular Guide readers found it ‘very welcoming, with good interaction between staff and guests’. A friend struggling with the stairs was, without asking, offered an ‘equally comfy room lower down. Very touching.’ The fourth of Robin Hutson’s growing litter, it boasts some ‘wonderfully whimsical’ rooms; two in thatched dovecotes, one with ‘a loo slipped discreetly into a bay window’. All have muted hues, Roberts radio, monsoon shower. In the conservatory dining room – ‘shabby chic, informal, no chairs alike’ – James Golding and Andy Wright source most ingredients from a 25-mile radius, including the kitchen garden, for dishes including crispy Jurassic Coast gurnard with braised pork cheek; crown of Purbeck partridge. Two gripes, ‘Muzak everywhere’; ‘food good but menu didn’t change over three days’. Lovely grounds include the bunker where Churchill and Eisenhower observed D-Day rehearsals. (Josie and Guy Mayers, IB)