Old Downton Lodge

Amid rolling hills in an 'exquisite setting', where Shropshire nudges Herefordshire, Pippa and Willem Vlok’s restaurant-with-rooms is a picturesque set piece of medieval and Georgian farm buildings. It lies on the historic Downton Estate (not that Downton!), and caters to shooting parties, but you are as welcome to take tea outdoors and just shoot the breeze. 'The attention to detail is faultless yet there is nothing pretentious about this place.' Bedrooms occupy former stables and barns, some with lofty, beamed ceilings, perhaps an oak four-poster. 'Our room was beautiful with a vaulted ceiling, clever lighting, crisp white bed linen and a bathroom with everything you could want.' Enjoy a bottle of wine in the 'flower-filled courtyard which has a very French feel'. Or take a drink by the log-burner in a sitting room fashioned from a milking parlour. In a baronial-style dining room, Nick Bennett creates meals that are 'a taste explosion of perfection' that might feature guinea fowl with hipsi cabbage or bream with octopus and garlic beans. In the morning, 'waffles, bacon and maple syrup is a winner'. 'Completely outstanding.' (Ingle Dawson, and others)