The Beckford Arms – Fonthill Gifford, Wiltshire

On the Fonthill Estate, the stylish yet immediately welcoming Beckford Arms combines country pub, restaurant and comforting place to stay in equal measure. Eat in the animated bar, elegant dining room or pretty conservatory; there’s also private dining for 12 in the homely library or for 24 in the quiet sitting room, with its crackling log fire, comfy antique chairs and tables piled with books. You eat well: pickled quail’s eggs and homemade sausage rolls at the bar, washed down with their own Beckford Phoenix ale, hearty but imaginative lunches and dinners as well as peerless breakfasts. You sleep well too: there are eight lovely bedrooms in the inn and two luxurious lodges ‘Spendens’ in the rolling parkland – plus you can now bed down in the magnificent Grade I-listed Fonthill Arch, at the entrance to the Estate. Co-owners Dan Brod, Charlie Luxton and Matt Greenlees have thought of everything, from deeply comfortable beds to woolly hot-water bottles, pretty throws and all-natural Bramley products. There’s an outdoor pizza oven, and delightful garden that frames views of romantic Fonthill. 

Doubles from £105 

+44 (0)1747 870385; beckfordarms.com