Montagu Arms

Fine food, a pleasing pub, welcoming staff and spacious bedrooms are among the benefits at this handsome wisteria-covered Victorian building, in a picturesque village by the Beaulieu river on the edge of the New Forest. There is a wide choice of bedrooms, mixing contemporary and traditional styles. Some overlook a Gertrude Jekyll-inspired garden, some have a four-poster, a bay window from which to watch free-ranging ponies and donkeys sauntering by. Readers reported that in Alder ‘the sheer space was exhilarating’, with ‘good bedside lighting’. Others wrote that Cherry was ‘delightful, spacious, very comfortable’. Dog-friendly, open-plan studios surround a courtyard garden, and have a private terrace, a marble bathroom with underfloor heating, a freestanding bath and walk-in shower, a minibar and decanter of gin. In the Terrace restaurant, local and organic home-grown produce is used to create ‘wonderfully presented’ dishes such as fillet of beef, parsley emulsion, sauce Perigourdine. Or pop into the pub for a burger and local ale; your dog can join you. ‘Every single member of staff was polite and helpful.’ (David Phillips, Julie Smith J and S Mann)