Burleigh Court Hotel

Tradition is the watchword at this Cotswold stone manor house built at the dawn of the 19th century. Its terraced gardens came along in the 1930s, designed by Clough Williams-Ellis of Portmeirion fame to provide a perfect viewing platform to take in a splendid panorama of the Golden Valley. Burleigh Court stays true to the classic English country-house idiom: aperitifs in its oak-panelled lounge bar are a prelude to dinner in the elegant formal dining room. The kitchen has a nice line in gently reworked classics built on fresh, well-sourced produce that might not all be local, but is always top quality. It's an uncomplicated approach that produces clear, clean flavours and textures: poached and roasted fillet of local pork, perhaps, with celeriac purée, tian of red cabbage and swede, and Calvados cream sauce, or pan-roasted Cornish pollock with crushed garden peas, chorizo roasted potato, and lemon and herb dressing. End with warm banana tarte Tatin with toffee ice cream and spiced rum syrup.