The Michelin man finally heaved his spare tyre down to the Crown at Whitebrook this year, awarding its sprightly chef, James Sommerin, his first star. Not before time. Set deep in dormouse country, on the loveliest, leafiest stretch of the River Wye, the Crown is a terrific place to hunker down for autumn. Sommerin takes hefty Welsh ingredients (meat from Monmouth, locally grown fruit and veg), drizzles on a soupçon of French finesse, and the result is roast and confit quail with foie gras, beetroot and orange, perhaps chased down by marinated loin of lamb with fresh morels, wild garlic, liquorice and black treacle.

Golf, anyone? Fishing? A riverside hike? You’re unlikely to want to move anywhere after that kind of feed – and, fortunately, the Crown’s eight wee bedrooms have recently come over all stylish and sunlit, thanks to a makeover by the new owners, Jonathan and Nicola Davies. VC

Doubles from £110, B&B; three-course dinner from £45; 01600 860254, www.crownatwhitebrook.co.uk