The Springs Hotel & Golf Club

The Victorian Tudor-style timbered house looks delightful in landscaped gardens by its own spring-fed lake in the timeless Oxfordshire countryside. Now trading as a tranquil golf-oriented destination, the Springs Hotel makes the most of its period features - oak beams and log fires in plush lounges, and an elegantly furnished dining room, where attentive formal service and a reassuringly traditional style of country-hotel cooking are the order of the day. Well-sourced local ingredients form the backbone of menus that might begin with pressed smoked ham hock terrine with home-made piccalilli and toasted brioche, then move on to honey-roasted duck breast with pak choi, fondant potato, and kumquat and brandy sauce. Sticky toffee pudding with treacle ice cream winds up proceedings on a deeply comforting note.