James Lamb, the Riverside’s general manager, brims with confidence about his hotel. “I am sure,” he writes in the dinner menu, “that we shall be able to mesmerise your palate into submission.”

Actually, our palates have already been mesmerised. This will be our second visit to this elegantly rambling Georgian hotel in a quiet village in the Peak District National Park. Earlier this year, two friends treated us to lunch here after their civil partnership. It was one of the best meals we’ve had for years, so we’ve come back to try out the accommodation.

We arrive at dusk. The lights of the hotel, with its landscaped grounds on the banks of the River Wye, glow with a cheery welcome matched by the receptionist, a Scot, who tells us: “I’m from Glasgow, a quiet, wee fishing village on the Clyde, if you know it.”

Our french-windowed “garden room” is cosy and comfortable in a floral, country-house way, with a watercolour of the village’s famous packhorse bridge on the wall. With two armchairs and a dressing table, it risks feeling cluttered, but it has an iron and ironing board, complimentary sherry and a tiny fridge for fresh milk. All very thoughtful.

Then there’s a disappointment. On our previous visit, we ate in the convivial main dining room. Tonight, however, we’re in a smaller side room with just two other couples and no background music. The atmosphere is so constrainingly self-conscious that we breathe a sigh of relief when another guest arrives with two friends, whom he regales with a loud monologue about his problems with women.

The cooking is as agreeably light and stylish as before, though my wife’s vegetarian options revolve unenterprisingly around goat’s cheese: grilled goat’s cheese salad, followed by vegetable and potato timbale with more of the stuff. My soused sea bass starter is chillier than it need be, though pan-fried fillet of turbot is expertly textured. In our fogeyish way, however, we long for such quaint old-fashioned extras as a bowl of vegetables.

The service is perfectly paced and tempers its basic formality (“The turbot is for sir? The timbale for madam?”) with unassuming friendliness.

Breakfast, however, lets the side down. The same dining room now has just three small tables, leaving enough empty floor space to stage a disco. Choice is limited and I have to go and find a waitress to bring our tea. But don’t let that stop your palate being mesmerised.

Bottom line: Stephen McClarence paid £230 for dinner, bed and breakfast for two.

Sampling the fare: Three- course dinner menu, £45.

What we think: Pretty mesmer. . . what was the word again?

Best thing: Welcoming atmosphere.

Worst thing: Feeling sidelined at breakfast.

Access all areas: Wheelchair access to ground-floor bedrooms, dining rooms and bar.

Need to know: Riverside House Hotel (01629 814275, www.riversidehousehotel.co.uk), Ashford-in-the-Water, Bakewell, Derbyshire.

Room: 8 out of 10.

Food: 7 out of 10.

Service: 8 out of 10.

Times recommends

• Win a Zeppelin flight over London
• A first timer's guide to... Morocco
• The budget guide to the French Riviera