'I visited the best inn in the country and found out its unbelievable secret'

On my birthday, five years ago, I had the best overnight stay I suspect I will ever have.

My girlfriend whisked me down to on a surprise trip, telling me no more than to be at London Waterloo at a certain time with my walking boots. After a brief, educational visit to Okehampton's excellent Museum of Dartmoor Life, and a chuckle at the curious-looking, vaguely humanoid models in it, we stomped across the moor to Lydford to spend the night at

It was that evening spent resting our sore feet next to the fire; drinking pints and eating chips as we failed to compete at a pub quiz; and then stumbling upstairs to one of the 16th-century inn's 13 timber-framed, simplistic bedrooms that cost just £70. We awoke the next day replenished, ready to scoff at the idea of paying the entry fee to view the Lydford Gorge (gorge viewing should be free. This is not America) and then wander deeper into the great wilderness.

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Could this perfect evening be matched, I wondered as I turned away from one of the few remaining single-track toll bridges left in the UK and into adjacent last weekend. The reason I had come to the converted 17th-century coaching tavern, which sits between Preston and Blackpool in Lancashire, is that it was recently crowned the

The victory is hugely impressive, given the crumbling state of the building less than 20 years ago, when owners Julie and Patrick Beaume bought the ailing property. Come the morning after of my stay - when most of the friendly Beaume family had naturally, chattily congregated in the inn to proudly show me before and after photos of the Cartford - I was fully convinced they were worthy of the crown.

The secret ofThe Castle Inn was it offered a hub of friendly refuge after a long day. Similarly, the Beaume family welcomes travellers with genuine warmth in contrast to the dark, frosty Lancashire night that surrounded our out-cabin.

My stay began fireside in the Cartford's restaurant, where we were in the hands of the general manager and employee of 12 years, Matty.

He advised my carnivorous partner to try the braised oxtail and beef skirt in real ale suet pudding ("That's Lancashire on a plate, that is") while I opted for the butternut squash tarte tatin. The Cartford currently has and is in the Michelin Guide for its “gutsy” cooking, thanks in large part to the work of head chef Chris Berry - formerly of the Fat Duck, now promoting the county's delicacies as a Taste Lancashire Ambassador. His skill and passion were evident from the mushroom and chestnut pâté on rosemary bread and local wood pigeon saltimbocca starters, through the mains, all the way to the croissant and chocolate bread and butter pudding. Game and venison are caught locally, and the menu changes twice a season, so you'll always have something fresh to try.

After Matty's brother Danny bade us goodnight, we rolled our way past greenhouses constructed during the pandemic for pods of punters but kept, due to popular demand, to our beds for the evening.

The Cartford has been built up from a classic, slightly basic bar with a couple of rooms above to what is now far closer to a hotel. The 50 plus rooms in the main building are plush and solid-feeling, with thick carpets and cheery flecks of maximalism that make each unique. Eight tanks have been installed across the site to pump hot water to the bathrooms, including one hidden away behind a wardrobe door.

If they made me feel like I'd walked into an episode of Interior Design Masters, then our little cabin at the end of the car park had a distinct touch of the BBC's Home on Their Own - a reckless show that handed kids massive budgets to transform their homes into Japanese hotels or burger bars. It had all the trimmings, from a vinyl desk linked up to a Sonus in the bathroom to remote-controlled steel blinds. The pièce de résistance was a vast standalone bath in the center of the bedroom, large enough to swim in.

Breakfast takes place in front of a large window overlooking the River Wyre. After the fun of an evening's bedroom paddling and enjoying the Cartford's specially brewed Giddy Kipper beer, there was something pleasantly austere about deciding which of the anyways I wanted my egg alongside a row of quiet business travellers.

While once this kind of customer would've made up the bulk of business for inns like the Cartford, these days, it's weekends and holidays when bookings are hard to come by. Despite a fairly high price range of £200 for the smallest rooms to £350 for the biggest, the inn is often full, and the expensive rooms go first.

The family noticed this shift in clientele in the post-COVID years, which they weathered by expanding their farm produce shop. Once it was back open, those who came to stay came with more to spend and a desire to really dig into everything that Cartford has to offer.

What that is, at its core, is a modern take on a classic concept, delivered with love and attention to detail. The bar may be closed to all but overnight guests, those eating and a handful of lucky locals; the rooms may be a little dear for most of those 'just passing through'; the mural from acclaimed artist My Dog Sighs so good someone travelled from Tokyo to view it in a way not obviously associated with a 'warm' and 'homely' joint.

Yet the family's and their clearly well-loved staff's passion for creating something excellent and very welcoming is evident—to me, the AA judges, and pretty much everyone else who has swum around in the Cartford's bathtubs.

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cost between £200 and £350.