Wilton Court country hotel

Situated about half a mile west of Ross, Wilton Court has been a hotel since the 1970s but present owners Roger and Helen Wynn took over in 2000. 'It's improved year on year,' says Helen. 'We have a lot of loyal customers. For wining and dining it's a combination of locals and guests - 90 per cent of our guests eat at the hotel as well. We've been Flavour of Herefordshire finalists for the last seven years.'

The couple had worked in five star hotels in London and overseas before deciding to take the plunge and open a place of their own. So why choose Ross?  'We wanted to buy a small hotel - a historical building in a unique location - and we started a search,' she says. 'An agent gave us details of this hotel and it ticked all the boxes. We didn't know the area at all, but it's so beautiful with all this wonderful countryside around you and you've got all the amenities of a town as well. It's such a different lifestyle from London, where we were before. We fell in love with it as soon as we saw it.'

Ironically, some of the hotel's guests now use the hotel as a base for exploring the local area when looking to relocate themselves. 'People come and stay here while they're going around estate agents and getting a feel of the place,' she says. 'They move here and then carry on coming to the hotel for dinner.'

But it's not just the quality of life - Ross is also an ideal location from a commercial point of view. 'In terms of the tourist industry, Ross is very well known and well established and has such a fantastic location because of all the motorways - it has very, very easy access. It's a very popular destination because we're really in the heart of England.'

The hotel recently received Visit Wales' gold award and was highly commended in the Heart of England tourism awards. It is also firmly committed to supporting local suppliers. 'We're passionate about sourcing local produce and working with local companies to support the area,' she says. 'Practically all of our food is locally sourced - from Herefordshire and the neighbouring counties. I suppose our Herefordshire beef is the top seller, but there's also our local venison as well, which is absolutely excellent. We change the menu regularly - when people see seasonal food, they go for it.'

It's not just the meat that's locally sourced, however. The hotel uses local suppliers for its fruit, vegetables, wine, beer, cider, juice and even its crisps, from local company Tyrells. It also buys produce from distributors like Troughles Fine Foods that work with even smaller local farms and suppliers. 'They deal with a lot of small suppliers who make local cheeses - the problem is that a lot of those suppliers don't have the distribution so you can't get the goods, but people like Troughles work with them and supply to hotels and restaurants. So even if we're not buying it direct, we're still dealing with local companies.'

'When people come they like to see that you're using local produce,' she continues. 'It's extremely easy to get hold of - we have it delivered six days a week. It does make it easy for us because this part of the country does seem to produce so much local produce, maybe more so than a lot of other areas. It would be unforgivable not to take advantage of that.'