The Great British & Irish Bed & Breakfast 2002 (Tomorrow's Guides, £9.99)

It's a little disconcerting to pick up next year's recommended guide of places to stay and discover that it's authors still believe that Worcestershire and Herefordshire are firmly stapled at the hip.

"These two counties, joined in 1974..." it merrily trills along, failing to mention that the acrimonious forcing together finally succumbed to the rust in 1998.

How much then, of the rest of the book, can you safely believe? If that one fairly basic piece of information is wrong, how much more has been under-researched?

Especially when you know that far and away the best B&B in the Sussex town of Rye, (pink painted The Old Vicarage where Julia and Paul Masters prepare the finest breakfast anywhere in the known universe) doesn't even have a mention.

That said, Wyche Keep in Wyche Road, Malvern, sounds just the place to send the relatives when they come calling and you haven't the room to put them up.

It's just one of more than 800 places on offer to pgs (paying guests) that are recommended by the guide - nearly all proprietor-run with hosts offering hospitality in unique way.

John and Judith Williams now own this arts and crafts-style house which was built by the family of three-times Prime Minister Sir Stanley Baldwin.

They let three large luxury double suites, make traditional English cooking their speciality and offer four course candlelit dinners, serving them in a house party atmosphere in front of a log fire.

That'll do me.

David Chapman