Shed Restaurant at the Museum Inn, The

When General Augustus Lane Fox Pitt Rivers built a museum in the 1800s to house his collection of trophies, artefacts and other fruits of his extensive travels, he decided, one suspects for reasons of natural good manners rather than commercial gain, that those coming to visit would seek refreshment, so he built what has now become the Museum Inn.

And, my word, how he would have approved of its latest incarnation! Nothing but the best here, avoiding pretence and fancy nonsense. The overnight accommodation is blissfully comfortable, like everything else in this temple of hospitable excellence, even down to the power showers.

Amidst a welter of restrained traditional features the cheerful staff buzz around ensuring that the place always looks burnished and welcoming, with well tended log fires, fresh flowers and furniture that beckons rather than engulfs.

In the restaurant a daily changing menu offers starters of smoked haddock chowder, potted brown shrimps, or seared foie gras with mushy peas, air dried ham and truffle oil, that precede an array of main courses which could include Gloucester Old Spot belly pork with plenty of crackling, White Rock free range chicken breast tasting, yes it's true, as everyday chicken used to taste decades ago, or deep fried mini fish cakes gloriously devoid of that stodgy inner protected by a coat of outward armour.

Puddings of hot lime sponge or crème brûlée with rhubarb compote and vanilla ice cream nicely round off a perfect meal. Search as ye may I defy you to find anything critical to say about this place, except that it is not a bit nearer to my home, but then again . . . . . . . .