Special Places to Stay - More than a bed for the night

Efenechtyd means 'place of the monks' but there's nothing spartan about Dave and Marilyn's handsome brick farmhouse. Breakfasts of local sausages, eggs from their hens, salmon fishcakes with mushrooms and homemade bread are served at a polished table in the dining room with exotic wall hangings from Vietnam and Laos. Light bedrooms have an uncluttered feel, excellent mattresses and good linen; bathrooms are warm as toast. In the pretty cottage garden: a summerhouse and Marilyn's beehive. Motor to Ruthin, with its windy streets and interesting shops, or strike out for Offa's Dyke with a packed lunch; this is stunning countryside.