AN INSPECTOR CALLS

His mission: To test hotel hospitality to the limit

THE Bel & The Dragon chain means business. Co-founded by Joel Cadbury (scion of the chocolate company) and fellow Old Etonian Ollie Vigors — who both used to have a stake in the Groucho Club — there are now seven in the group, all within an hour or so of London.

This is the latest, in Kingclere, just down the road from where Clare Balding grew up at her father’s racing stables.

It’s on the main street of this pretty Berkshire village and used to be the Swan pub. There are nine rooms squeezed into various nooks and crannies, all tastefully decorated with sumptuous duvets and pillows, an absence of clutter and muted colours.

So far, so predictable. But what sets this place apart is that if you’re staying here you are treated differently to everyone else. For starters, there’s a large drawing room for residents, with comfy sofas, a card table, plenty of books, espresso machine and helpyourself bottles of Sipsmith damson vodka — the distillery handily owned by Cadbury.

How easy it would be to turn this into another bedroom and cash in. Good on them for resisting.

Our room has furniture from Loaf and nothing on the walls except three small botanical prints above the bed. There’s underfloor heating in the bathroom and lots of Bramley products. Yes, the loo makes an awful racket, but this is a building dating back to 1513. More annoying — but perhaps equally unavoidable — is that noise from the bar wafts upstairs.

No complaints whatsoever with the food: simple classics with a sophisticated twist. The fat, crispy chips are irresistible.

And we like the way the bar has its own identity and then you move into the dining room, which meanders here and there, with several open fires. A walk next morning on Watership Down rounds everything off nicely. The posh boys have done good.

Bel and The Dragon Swan Street, Kingsclere, Hants RG20 5PP

Rooms from £115 B&B