Mallory Court

A romantic Elizabethan-style Edwardian mansion, built for a Manchester cotton bleacher and set in extensive landscaped gardens, is the epitome of a well-run country-house hotel. Part of the Eden group (see also Brockencote Hall, Chaddesley Corbett), with Relais & Châteaux cred, it is ‘at once sumptuous and relaxing'. Readers on their fifth visit to 'this exceptional hotel' stayed in 'another fine room'. First-floor doubles in the Knight’s Suite are most affordable, but main-house rooms with modern comforts and period charm, an espresso machine and fine toiletries, have more ambience. 'Perhaps the best are the new rooms above the spa in the Orchard House,' write other readers. You can eat informally from a lounge menu, while in the dining room produce from the kitchen garden features on a nightly tasting menu. It might include roast Cornish cod 'prawn cocktail' or loin of venison with pumpkin and blackberries. ‘Food and drink are of very high quality,’ say readers, with special praise for ‘the impressive sommelier’. 'Staff are professional, quick, helpful and friendly.' (Stephen and Pauline Glover, and others)