"This excellent foodie pub just outside Winchester began life as a coaching inn. Its high-ceilinged bedrooms recall days of prosperity on the toll roads between London and Southampton. The whole pub was refurbished in 2015 by the owners Mark and Penny Thornhill, and they’ve done a very good job recycling furniture and old wood. The bar has an open fireplace with a dining room off to one side and a cosy snug on the other.

Upstairs there are ten bedrooms and suites, each named after an owner of the nearby Hursley estate and all quite individual. There’s also a strange door that was painted shut many years ago that leads no knows where. Down in the basement hotel guests have access to an old-fashioned skittle alley (when it isn’t booked for private dining). The whole pub radiates a sense of fun and easy hospitality. A lot of locals come here to dine and it’s not surprising; the menu is very good indeed. The Kings Head also specialises in gins, with nearly forty available in the bar. The menu even suggests a little Hendricks and tonic as your starter."