Plumber Manor

For over 50 years, the Prideaux-Brune family have welcomed guests to their ancestral Jacobean manor house in an English country garden with the Divelish stream skipping through. A ‘lovely house in a lovely setting’, it has the feel of a much-loved home where guests are truly cared for; one reader with a toothache was relieved when the hosts arranged a next-day dental appointment and drove him to it. Interiors have been upgraded, but they retain their traditional feel, with antiques and blazing fires, and a grand piano in a gallery hung with ancestral portraits. As well as main-house bedrooms, some with window seats where you can look out over the garden, there are ten spacious rooms in a restored stone barn surrounding a topiary courtyard. Four are dog friendly; the Prideaux-Brunes’ black Labradors make canine visitors feel at home. Richard curates the ‘very reasonably priced’ wine list, while his brother Brian, with head chef Louis Haskell, cooks ‘varied and interesting’ dishes such as guinea fowl supreme with black pudding bubble and squeak. Relax in a deckchair on the lawn, or bring your gun and join a shooting party. (Chris and Angela Uncles, Martin Daly, and others)