The Northgate, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

The hotel is situated on a busy road a short walk from the centre of Bury St Edmunds, one of East Anglia's most likeable small towns, with loads to see and do, good shopping and a scattering of excellent restaurants - plus trips out to nearby Ickworth House or down to Lavenham and Long Melford are easy if you have a car. The abbey ruins and gardens are a ten-minute walk away, as is St Edmundsbury Cathedral next door.

By car: The hotel is 2 hours from London and Birmingham, 2 hours 30 mins from Brighton and 40 mins from Cambridge. There is free parking for guests.

By train: London Kings Cross to Bury St Edmunds (via Cambridge) takes 1 hour 45 mins. The station is a ten-minute walk from the hotel. Book trains to Bury St Edmunds.

The Northgate's style is uber-foodie and metropolitan, with rooms and public spaces decorated with elegant bespoke fabrics and wall coverings, a restaurant and chef who celebrate food and cookery with a chef's table, and a bar that likes to mix a cocktail or two, including creations like their own rhubarb cosmopolitan.

Service is excellent - attentive without being overbearing - and facilities extend to the restaurant, which has a 12-person chef's table, and a funky bar that's popular with non-residents, who flow out onto the large outdoor terrace in summer. There's also a small carpark.

• Bar
• Restaurant
• Garden
• Family rooms
• Free parking
• Free Wi-Fi

They have nine boutique-style rooms, luxurious spaces pitched somewhere between tradition and modernity and individually furnished with king-size double beds, flatscreen TVs, and tea and homemade shortbread. Some of the generally fairly lavish en-suite bathrooms feature baths/showers while others have separate walk-in showers.

Room types: Hervey, Davers, Fitzroy, Duncombe, Bunbury, Felton, Conway, Harriet, The Templetown suite

Key amenities: ensuite bathroom, TV, tea and coffee facilities, free Wi-Fi

The very comfortable restaurant features a deliciously short à la carte menu, with just half a dozen mains and starters. The focus is on local produce - Blythburgh pork, salt-marsh lamb fish and seafood from nearby Lowestoft, crabs from Cromer - and the wine list features a sparkling rose from Essex.

The Northgate: modern European cuisine, seasonal dishes, regional produce, bar snacks, cocktails. Food served Weds-Sun, 12-3pm and 5.30-8.30pm. Mains from £15.