Kineton, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

This “beautiful” honey-coloured Cotswolds country hotel with grand gardens dates back to 1649 and is a regular fixture on round-ups of romantic UK getaways. On the food front, there are two options: fine-diner Atrium, offering a “flawless” tasting menu (one sitting only at 18.45), and more casual spot The Dining Room, where reporters “could not fault the quality of the food” (and where, profiting from the hotel’s canine-friendly ethos, you can “eat with our dog at dinner and breakfast”).

2022 Review: Limited but upbeat feedback on this relatively recent (2019) addition to the well-known Cotswolds manor house, with Charles Smith delivering a nine-course tasting menu for £95. Fans do say it’s “wonderful”, but we have to leave a rating till we have a few more reports.

“Delicious, innovative food served in an intimate setting” has been the draw at chef Gus Ashenford and his wife Kate’s former Cotswold village tearoom for 22 years. The cooking is rooted in the classical French cuisine of Gus’s mentor, the late Michel Roux senior, but the ratings were dragged down this year by a reporter who felt “the food is interesting and individual, but not as exceptional as my last visit some years ago”.

“The cooking is really excellent here” – “the best I have ever had in a pub” – says a Putney-based fan of this Cotswolds inn from former Simpsons head chef Nathan Eades and Liam Goff. “The decor could do with a bit of money, but at least the focus is on good food and pleasant local service” – “and it isn’t yet full of Londoners like us, despite Giles Coren’s efforts!” Top Menu Tips – “the amazing celeriac pie” and the “ham hock for two”.