With their background in TV and film, Sara Curran and Peter Sussman, owners of the former North House, are experts in presentation. Since taking over in April 2022, they have hung artworks collected on their travels, refreshing the beautiful interiors. 'Exquisite, beautifully styled' bedrooms are spread across two townhouses and Victorian Foresters Hall. Some have a modern four-poster, a log-burner, an in-room roll-top bath. All have fresh milk, a fridge, a Roberts radio, Farrow & Ball paint shades or wallpaper. But the big innovation is Brasserie by Smoking Lobster, where our inspectors knew at first bite of a dish of tempura baby courgettes with confit garlic truffle mayo that they were in for a treat. 'The seafood bucatini had a generous and good selection of prawns, crabs, clams and lobster. The half lobster with seaweed salt chips was so good it was a shame it wasn't a whole lobster.' Meat-eaters will find plenty of choice – and at prices that wouldn't make a lobster blush. In the summer, you can eat outside on the terrace; there is also a pool. A tip: forget the car ferry and take the hydrofoil; 'it's just a short walk from the terminal'.