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The Red Lion in the village of Hinxton, south of Cambridge, backs on to the Wellcome Trust Genome campus, where brilliant minds work on improving human and animal health.

An experimental sort of place.

Experimentation is not on the menu at the Red Lion.

The Red Lion: High expectations, but a rather drab sort of experience, according to our Hotel Inspector

Nothing wrong with that, but it could be so much more inviting.

At the 16th-century pub, you can eat cosily in the bar, or less atmospherically in the oak dinning room extension, where the lights are too bright. Turn them off and light some candles.

But there's still a decent buzz. The staff are easy-going; the food wholesome; the wines fairly priced.

A confident young man, who tells us he's just started his own radio show, escorts us to our room. There are eight of them in a separate low-lying building at the back of the plot.

Ours is functional - and dull. We're astonished that the website calls the accommodation 'stunning'. One of the windows looks on to a brick wall. The garden was landscaped by a Chelsea Flower Show Gold Award winner. It must have been a dreary year.

But we like the dovecote. I count ten doves sitting contentedly and they don't move an inch as we file past on our way to breakfast. We go for the full English, mainly because the table of cereals and fruit looks so unexciting.

We had high expectations of our stay, not least because the website talks about its 'multi-award-winning status'. They weren't met.