More than 70 years after the O'Brien family first opened their Edwardian country house to the Cowdray Park set, third-generation owner Seamus O'Brien presides over a thriving spa hotel. From standard rooms to family suites, the accommodation is a contemporary take on traditional English country house style. Some rooms have a balcony or patio. Dual-aspect master rooms have a bath and power shower. All have home-made biscuits, fine toiletries, 24-hour room service. With the South Downs on the doorstep, and golf, tennis, bowls, croquet and swimming on site, this is the perfect place for 'a restorative stay'. You can order from an all-day menu, enjoy a Sunday roast, take afternoon tea on the terrace, or horse around in a bar adorned with polo memorabilia. At dinner, locally sourced dishes might include fillet steak Rossini, market fish risotto, and guineafowl supreme with morel sauce. 'The crab soup and guineafowl were delicious,' writes a reader, who would have liked more choice of fruit at breakfast, before, say, kippers, a full English or smoked salmon with scrambled egg. (Frances M Thomas)