To an arch-pedant like me, arriving at Shelleys Hotel was problematic. “Never mind my room key,” I felt like thundering at the receptionist. “Where’s the apostrophe?” I didn’t mind if it came before or after the “s”: I just wanted there to be one.

Attention to detail is not one of the strong points of this handsome old hotel, 16th-century in origin and later owned by the Shelley family of which Percy Bysshe was a member.

My predinner Bloody Mary came with apologies for the lack of Worcester sauce – they had just run out. “Is that Kipling?” I asked, pointing out a portrait on the far wall. “Who is Kipling?” asked the waiter.

Things were looking grim. Luckily, the hotel played a blinder in the second half, following an excellent dinner with an even better breakfast.

Shelleys prides itself on offering country house comforts in the middle of a small town, and that is about the sum of it. The building, on Lewes High Street, looks nothing special; but inside there is a surprising amount of space, with decent-sized bedrooms, an impressive dining-room and, best of all, an old walled garden.

Our room, decorated in high Regency style, with heavy striped wallpaper, was comfortable: the ideal setting in which to recover from a stonking three-course meal.

Dinner began slowly, with a salad of cured Scotch salmon, orange and avocado, pressed its foot on the accelerator with a fillet of Aberdeen Angus beef with horseradish cream, then went for broke with a chocolate marquise. I doubt if Percy Bysshe had such a meal in his entire life.

Our fellow diners were a strange assortment, a mixture of seven-year-olds, 70-year-olds and middle-aged men who seemed to be off-duty vicars, judging by the knowledge of the New Testament that peppered their conversation. And we could have done without the piped music, particularly since there was a pianist playing the real thing at a private function next door. But the friendly service matched the quality of the food.

Breakfast, if anything, was even more enjoyable, not just because of the immaculate poached eggs and smoked haddock, but because we were able to enjoy views of the garden. It is a delightful spot, in one of those unsung English towns with a higgledy-piggledy charm all its own.

I shall forgive them the missing apostrophe.

Bottom line: Max Davidson paid £120 for a double room.

Sampling the fare: Three-course dinner, without drinks, cost £32pp.

What we think: A likeable upmarket hotel in a pretty Sussex town.

Best thing: Walled garden at the back of the hotel.

Worst thing: Rabbit warren of corridors.

Access all areas: Public areas only.

Need to know: Shelleys Hotel, High Street, Lewes, East Sussex (01273 472361, www.shelleys-hotel.com)

Room: 6 out of 10.

Food: 7 out of 10.

Service: 8 out of 10.

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