The Mash Inn – Radnage, Buckinghamshire

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Deep in the Chilterns, yet just 42 miles from London, here’s something different, delightful and refreshingly honest. ‘I want folks,’ says owner Nick Mash, ‘to come here, return to nature, eat nature and get back to hiking through fields and living without frills.’ How so? ‘By removing barriers between chef and diner, de-formalising, paring down.’ Walk into the diminutive pub, past cosy corners and a tiny bar, then into the airy, vaguely Scandinavian dining area, and you’ll find a solid wood workstation groaning with ingredients beneath a ceiling rack dripping with pots and pans. Here, in front of an open rotisserie fire, cheery chef Jon Parry cooks up a storm for guests at communal or separate tables. Outside: immaculate kitchen gardens; a blazing firepit on the terrace; and a stirringly beautiful Chilterns view. Upstairs: five cute rooms in the eaves with divine beds and hip baths. Nick’s formula for ‘simple, sociable hospitality’ is a winning one. Doubles from £100.

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