The Devil's Punchbowl Hotel

The Devil's Punchbowl Hotel sits on London Road at Hindhead, on the edge of the landscape that gives it its name. That position is the point. The Devil's Punchbowl is one of the better-known pieces of countryside in this part of Surrey, and a hotel that looks out over it is selling something fairly specific: a base for walking, and a view to come back to afterwards.

It is listed at ££(£), which in hotel terms puts it above the budget chains and below the country-house end of the market. Expect to pay properly for a room, but not the sort of figure that turns a weekend away into an event you have to justify. The restaurant serves British food built around local produce. Beyond that, the menu is not something we can set out here, check before you travel if you are making a special trip for dinner rather than simply eating where you are staying.

The obvious use for it is a countryside break. Two nights, boots in the car, the walking done in daylight and the eating done afterwards. It suits people who want the outdoors to be the reason for the trip and the hotel to be comfortable rather than the main attraction. It would also work for anyone with family or friends walking the area who wants a bed nearby without renting a cottage for a week.

Hindhead is not a large place. It is a settlement on a main road in high, wooded country, and Haslemere is the nearer town of any size for shops, station and a wider choice of places to eat. If you are coming without a car, work out the connection before booking. If you are driving, the London Road location is straightforward to find but it is a road, and a room's outlook will vary depending on which way it faces. Worth asking when you book, particularly if the view is what you are paying for.

Rooms are described as comfortable and the views as panoramic, and those are the two things the hotel leads with. Take them at face value rather than expecting a design hotel. For a walking base, comfortable and well-placed does most of the work.

A few practical points. We hold no information on opening hours, on whether the restaurant serves non-residents, on parking, or on whether dogs are welcome, all reasonable questions for a hotel of this kind, and all worth a phone call rather than an assumption.

Within its area, the Devil's Punchbowl Hotel occupies a straightforward position: the place you stay when the reason for coming is the country around it. Haslemere and Hindhead draw a steady flow of walkers and weekenders, and a mid-priced hotel with a British kitchen and a view over the Punchbowl is aimed squarely at them. Judge it on that, and it makes sense.