Plumber Manor

For close to 50 years the Prideaux-Brune family have welcomed guests to their ancestral Jacobean manor house in an English country garden with the Divelish stream skipping through. An upgrading programme is now complete, with old bathrooms rooted out and decor refreshed, but the interiors retain their traditional feel, with antiques and blazing fires, and a grand piano in the gallery hung with ancestral portraits. The ambience is of a much-loved home. As well as main-house bedrooms, some with window seats where you can look out over the garden and stream, there are ten spacious rooms in a restored stone barn surrounding a topiary courtyard. Four are dog-friendly; the Prideaux-Brunes’ black Labradors make canine visitors feel at home. Richard curates the wine list, while his brother Brian, with head chef Louis Haskell, cooks a varied menu of dishes such as brill with dill and Pernod, carré of lamb with redcurrant jelly; sweet potato, beetroot and spinach Wellington. Relax in a deckchair on the lawn, or bring your gun and join a shooting party. ‘A charming oasis in the midst of a hectic world.’