The Felin Fach Griffin – Brecon, Powys

This was the first of Edmund and Charles Inkin’s three wonderfully unpretentious and enjoyable establishments (see also The Gurnard’s Head and The Old Coastguard). Set amid magnificent scenery between the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons, the old inn has become a sanctuary for food lovers, walkers and bookish visitors to nearby Hay-on-Wye, famed for its annual Hay Literary Festival that takes place each spring. They all love the honest simplicity, the warmth of welcome, colour and comfort, both in ground floor rooms whose names say it all – Library, Tack Room, Aga Room – and in bedrooms where the beds and linens are second to none. Curl up here with one of the books that lie around and listen to your Roberts radio or simply gaze out at the hills, and you feel truly as though enveloped in a big embrace. Room Eight takes over the top of the building – a glorious vantage point into the fields beyond. After a refined dinner cooked up by head chef Nick Evans, based on the Welsh larder, you’ll head for bed with an equally big smile on your face.

Doubles from £175; from £255, incl dinner 

+44 (0)1874 620111; felinfachgriffin.co.uk

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