Located in deep valleys that deliver their waters to the surrounding seas, the coasts of Devon and Cornwall are well blessed with delightful old water mills that did the business for farmers and miners in earlier days.

This one was a corn mill, so now instead of providing the basic ingredient it is occupied with serving the completed product, which it does in considerable style. Best use has been made of the surrounding terrain, with split level terraces, and the inn now has nine elegant bedrooms with a lot of fittings that would have had previous millers rather mystified.

Dishes draw heavily on the surrounding richness of produce, and starters could include seafood tagliatelle, Cornish field mushrooms, or a delightful smoked mackerel pate lightly flavoured with horseradish. Moving on to the main delights expect to find fillet of Cornish hake served with a Port Isaac crab sauce, Michaelstow beef in various manifestations, or local haddock on a prawn risotto with lemon parsley oil.

The rod is not spared and a list of homemade traditional and contemporary desserts, and a selection of local cheese that may activate tastebuds you never thought you possessed, all go to help make meals here a pleasantly memorable experience. On 23 July 2006 in the Sunday Observer, it was noted that the Mill House Inn was one of the top five places to eat in Cornwall.