Those who want to experience eating behind a film set will find their dream come true here. The imposing, Palladian-style Georgian townhouses that line Bath’s most gracious thoroughfare have been used as a backdrop in all manner of period dramas, most recently the extravagant ‘Vanity Fair’. But while the Cavendish — unlike the city’s other landmark hotels — tends to stay away from the whole pomp’n'ceremony/glitz’n'glamour red-carpet theme, it is indisputably elegant. There’s a secluded patio garden out back, and although the dining room itself can feel a little bit too formal, the squishy sofas and low lights in the bar provide the perfect chill-out zone where you can relax the stiff upper lip. Food, though, is hardly stuffy: imaginative use of largely organic, free-range and locally sourced ingredients result in a trés foodie array, which recently earned the Cavendish a well-deserved triple AA Rosette — one confidently predicts that a very favourable visit from the Michelin man is in the offing.

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