"There's no real necessity to lock it," quips manager David Thomas, handing me my room key, "we are in the middle of nowhere." Actually, we are just six miles from foodie Ludlow, but hidden down mazy country lanes this handsome huddle of one-time farm buildings certainly feels remote. Walk out of the entrance and you are immediately picking your way through gambolling lambs, cow pats and spent shotgun cartridges (the surrounding Downton Estate keeps its gamekeepers busy) in fields that have exceptional views of surrounding Shropshire and Herefordshire: Long Mynd, Wenlock Edge, Clee Hill. There is no traffic noise, just birdsong.
Arranged around a pretty courtyard garden, Old Downton Lodge's historic buildings were turned into nine bedrooms in the 1990s. The look is butch, oak-led barn conversion. The bathrooms are a little dated (gold taps, etc) but generally it has worn well, and a more recent revamp of the soft furnishings has freshened it up. It is the period details, however, that impress: ancient heraldic and hunting tapestries; sloping stone windowsills, flagged floors and gnarled old timbers; the curious triangular windows in the dining room (vents in what was a Norman grain store).
Such a potentially austere relic needs characters to liven it up and ODL's ebullient head-man, Willem Vlok, and his younger, drier manager, David, are a fine double-act. Their rapport was as warm as my bathroom was chilly next morning. Whether picking you up from Ludlow station, relaying the latest news on foodie Ludlow or recommending local walks, they are keen, obliging hosts.
From lounge bar (bottle of Ludlow Gold, £4) to breakfast (exemplary Wenlock Edge Farm bacon and sausage, Ludlow Food Centre sauces), ODL is embedded in Shropshire's booming food scene and eager to assert its own credentials. New chef Karl Martin worked with Paul Foster at Tuddenham Mill and, like his old boss, attempts to strike a balance between foregrounding superlative ingredients and utilising the whiz-bang creative possibilities of sous-vide cooking and the Pacojet purée maker.
Not every dish on the £45 six-course tasting menu worked. An asparagus "soup" served over a gelatinous 62C-cooked egg needed greater textural contrast, and, for all its elaborate water-bath preparation, a salmon dish lacked flavour. The best courses, however, suggest a promising direction of travel.
Duck – delicate heart, breast and shredded, densely flavoured leg meat – served with raw and pickled turnip, charred leek and pennywort, was a beautiful interplay of clean, bitter and fattier, gamier flavours. A chocolate ganache served with salted pistachios was sensational.
Back in the bedroom, any niggles (UHT and, yawn, shortbread, heat-free towel rail, so-so toiletries), were footling. But in its key details – roomy, powerful shower, firm bed with crisp linen, slick lighting – ODL is as practically sound as it is characterful. Like Ludlow, it is a special place.
• Accommodation was provided by Old Downton Lodge. Travel between Manchester and Ludlow provided by Arriva Trains Wales (arrivatrainswales.co.uk)
