The Morley Hayes Hotel

Morley Hayes near Derby has been a farm estate and an orphanage in its time, but has been run as a family hotel since the 1980s. The Dovecote, its principal dining room, is to be found on the raftered first floor of a separate former farm building, overlooking the golf course and surrounding countryside. The cooking is as trend-conscious as can be, with many modern-classic dishes and some novel ideas in evidence. King prawn ravioli with a seared scallop in lemongrass sauce may whet the appetite for Gressingham duck breast with bok choy, radishes, honey-roast carrots and a pastilla of the leg meat. Finish with rhubarb jelly and sorbet, served with buttermilk pannacotta, or else they'll happily deconstruct a Black Forest gâteau for you.