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The majestic white façade of the Alveston House Hotel gives a clear indication of what to expect inside; beautifully designed bedrooms, well-equipped conference facilities, an attractive walled garden and much more. The Carriages is largely a brilliant endeavour; now armed with an AA Rosette, diners could enjoy a pre-dinner drink in the conservatory before heading to the candle-lit restaurant.

The kitchen turns in a fine performance and at the top of the order there is pork, apricot and pistachio terrine with onion marmalade, and pan fried king prawns with chilli, garlic and lime. For main course the choice can range from fillet au poivre, pan-fried beef with a brandy and peppercorn sauce, or seared Gressingham duck supreme. The nostalgic essence of desserts like sticky toffee pudding and Pavlova with fresh passion fruit, thick dairy cream and crushed raspberries is heart-warming.

After a meal retire to the lounge area for coffee, and perhaps a liqueur in front of the open fire to round off the evening at Carriages.

After it was built in the early part of the fourteenth century, the creeper clad manor house of Rangeworthy has been the home of several persons of distinction. This distinguished house is today the Rangeworthy Court Hotel, renowned for its character and ever-present old world charm.

In the summer months the garden provides the perfect ambience to take in the fine British sunshine, whilst in the winter you could sit by the crackling log fire and sip on a glass of wine or a whisky-mac.

The restaurant at Rangeworthy Court offers freshly created English cuisine in the form of a delicious regularly changing hot buffet. A traditional smoked salmon rosette could give way to roasted sirloin of beef and red wine sauce with a mini herb Yorkshire pudding or a pine nut and basil crusted halibut baked in the oven and served with baby glazed onions.

Thirteen ensuite bedrooms offer modern conveniences and views of the private gardens.

Even though it opened its doors only in 2007, Ronnie's restaurant and coffee lounge has grown in popularity to become one of the area's most loved restaurants. Chef and owner Ron Faulkner focuses on quality, freshness and locally sourced ingredients to present diners with tasty modern European cuisine.

The Good Food Guide Restaurant of the Year 2009, Ronnie's can be found in a lovingly renovated 17th century building with period features such as beamed ceilings and natural stonework. The walls are adorned with artwork by some of the UK's leading artists.

You could pop in for morning coffee and homemade cake or a more relaxed time of drinking and dining in the afternoon or evening. À la carte and fixed price menus offer dishes such as a starter of twice-cooked belly pork with Clonakilty black pudding and beetroot chutney, and a main course of grilled fillet of line-caught sea bass with a fennel and courgette panache, sautéed new potatoes and lemon oil.

Ronnie's offers hand-selected wines at excellent value for money.

Thornbury Castle is renowned for its many traditional English favourites such as the famous treacle tart and butterscotch pudding as well as the exceptional Sunday roasts. The cheeseboard is exclusively British too, but you'll also find plenty of modern, internationally-inspired dishes on the menu.

All dishes on their lunch and fixed price dinner menu use only the finest and freshest ingredients, sourced from local markets and suppliers wherever possible. They grow their own herbs on the premises and a quantity of vegetables such as courgette flowers and cherry tomatoes. Wine from their own vineyard - they grow the 'Muller Thurgau' grape - is available with your meal. Their well-stocked cellars also offer an excellent selection of vintage wines as well as discerningly chosen New World varieties.

A evening meal might consist of a choice of pan-fried cod with pea purée, crisp potato, confit tomato and gribiche sauce; Chicken and mushroom tortellini with foie gras, asparagus, braised onion and roast chicken sauce or terrine of duck confit, ginger, spring onions and five spice with marinated cucumber and plum sauce to begin with.

Then a choice of roast sea bass, celeriac fondant, cepes, braised leeks and asparagus with red wine essence; loin of Iamb shepherd's pie, white bean puree, garlic fritter, tomato and rosemary sauce or roast squab pigeon, sweet potato, braised lentils, spinach and pumpkin. And to sign off with banana financier, caramelised banana galette, banana sorbet and toffee sauce; rhubarb cream, hazelnut biscuit, mascarpone sorbet and a red wine syrup or Pistachio mousse, hot chocolate, waffles and pistachio ice-cream.

Service is attentive but not oppressively so - you'll find their elegantly attired staff know exactly when they're needed - and just as importantly - when they're not!

There are three dining rooms offering extremely flexible space, enabling them to cater for an intimate dinner for two as well as a private party for as many as fifty. The majestic and secluded Baron's Sitting Room is excellent for private dinner parties as well as functions in general. The Oriel Dining Room, wood-panelled, intimate and so romantic, is perfect for an intimate tête-à-tête. The hexagonal Tower Dining Room with ancestral portraits and heraldic crests can accommodate up to 30 guests.