The Angel Inn

‘It’s fearsomely expensive but for a treat you’re in safe hands’ at this Tudor inn, now a restaurant-with-rooms ‘in the idyllic landscape of the Stour valley’. Recommended by readers for ‘an unforgettable luxury break’, it delivered for our inspectors from the start. ‘We were welcomed with smooth but friendly courtesy, shown around, invited to pre-dinner drinks, then taken to our room.’ This was ‘a neat, compact double in restful neutrals, instantly soothing, with smart TV, high-tech air-con system, an espresso machine…’ Five rooms are in a timber-framed stables annexe. Important artworks hang in the public rooms, ‘a Florentine portrait here, an original Sutherland there’. Ruben Aguilar Bel’s ambitious cooking is impressive. ‘Everything from sourdough bread to petits four was delectable’, with special mention for ‘Iberico pork secreto; roasted pear, steamed raisin sponge, chestnut and chardonnay vinegar ice cream – gosh!’ In the morning, ‘Breakfast intrigued us, with Catalan and Benedictine options’ alongside ‘porridge, pancakes, croissants’. The service was ‘professional and perfectly attentive at every turn’. (Stephen Peters, and others)