A sheep made out of scrap metal and spark plugs, ‘old farm vehicles and delivery floats’ are part of the fun at this Georgian farmhouse, which gains a full Guide entry this year. Our inspectors were greeted by the ‘welcoming, enthusiastic’ manager, and shown to an outbuilding room with ‘beamed ceiling, a huge bed, crisp bedlinen, leather wing armchair’; it was ‘warm on a very cold night’. A large bathroom had ‘amazing painted tiles’, a good over-bath shower, Bramley toiletries. An umbrella was provided for the walk to the main house, where rooms have such ‘endlessly inventive features’ as ‘a washbasin over an old Pashley bike’. A stone-flagged bar led off a ‘lovely, slightly clubby sitting room with tweedy fabrics, leather and wood’. At dinner, chef Sandor Szucs’s menus include such ‘exceptionally interesting dishes’ as rosemary-marinated lamb, smoked root vegetables, sage polenta, black garlic jus; from the vegan menu, salt-baked celeriac, quinoa risotto, grilled heritage carrots, glazed candy beetroot, salsa verde. After a dip in the indoor pool, we enjoyed breakfast with ‘excellent smoked salmon and scrambled eggs’. Sister pub The Boat House, opposite, overlooks the marina.