The Gunton Arms

‘A fun take on a gallery crossed with an old boozer, and a good-value one at that’, this former steward’s house in a 1,000-acre deer park is an ‘anything-but-traditional’ pub-with-rooms, say inspectors. It is owned by art dealer Ivor Braka, with provocative works by artists such as Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst on display. A room in a rustic annexe was ‘the height of granny chic, with standard lamp, Roberts radio, patterned curtains, a colourful rug on sisal flooring, an enormous roll-top bath and large walk-in shower’. You can eat and drink in ‘a series of beguiling rooms with flagstones or floorboards’. In the Elk Room, huge prehistoric antlers hang above a blazing fire, where estate venison and local beef are flame-grilled every day but Sundays. The menu included ‘rich but delicate wild garlic and potato soup, delicious cod with fish fingers, beef sirloin – a Sunday roast as it should be’. For dessert, perhaps buttermilk pudding with rhubarb or a shot of blood orange and St Giles gin jelly. The breakfast buffet is complemented by ‘a generous portion of smoked salmon with scrambled eggs and sourdough toast’. Staff are 'friendly and helpful'. Sadly, ‘guests can’t ramble on the estate’.