We were simply looking for somewhere to break a long journey for the night and found Swinfen Hall more or less by accident. We were very pleasantly surprised - if anything it seems to undersell itself! The hotel is a lovingly restored early 18th century house with a fascinating history. It has only about 20 bedroms and stunning grounds, including a deerpark and walled vegetable garden. Our bedroom, no. 212, was large and spotlessly clean with an excellent bathroom and amazing double aspect views over the grounds. The public rooms are really interesting and beautifully restored. The staff were all delightful and helpful. Dinner is a more or less fixed tasting menu of 3, 5 or 8 courses which only changes seasonally, with little choice. We are foodies and thought the five course menu was really excellent, very imaginative and delicous, mostly featuring very local produce (some from the vegetable garden). The wine list was quite broad and reasonably priced. The only disappointment was the bread, which did not seem to be up to the same standard. Breakfast was what one would expect - leisurely and very good. We understand that there is another bistro style restaurant, which we did not try. The lack of variety in terms of dinner could be an obstacle to staying for more than a day or two. And there is no lift, so it would not be suitable for people who are disabled or have difficulty walking. Now a rant. The public rooms were filled with idiotic, vacuous wallpaper musak - and the musak was different from room to room. Why on earth don't people who take so much trouble to restore such a lovely house not understand that it has its own atmosphere and doesn't need such inanity? Rant over.Show less