Branscombe Restaurant Guide

“Convivial” 14th-century pub-with-rooms in a picturesque village – “cosy in winter and very pleasant outside in the summer” – whose charms of a thatched roof and log fires have been boosted by a £2million refurb from newish owner, the St Austell Brewery. The “traditional pub food” is “very well cooked”, and the “great staff” guarantee a “warm welcome”.

“Set in beautiful rolling countryside” in a “very rural part of Devon”, a “charming, civilised and completely individual” outfit – think Anglo agriturismo – set up by Hugo Guest and wife Olivia five years ago in the Georgian house where he grew up. The “interesting set menus” (three-, four- or six-course) are inspired by Italy and France and, by all accounts, ex-Fat Duck chef David Knapman’s food is simply “top-class”, making it an “absolute treat both to stay the night or to go for a meal”.