Although the Cave-Browne-Cave family has sold its big, white hotel above Cardigan Bay, which it has operated since the days of silent film, new owners BLS UK Hotels Ltd are expected to keep things very much as they always have been, maintaining the existing management.

There are sublime sea views from this hilltop Gothic beauty, run by a dedicated and creative family, with elegant bedrooms and gourmet dining by candlelight.

Behind a neo-classical façade, this Georgian coaching inn is a happy mix of local drop-in, hotel and restaurant, with 'comfortable rooms, good food and welcoming staff', says a returning reader.

This Tudor Gothic-style Elizabethan mansion, extended over centuries, overlooks parkland with a rare 17th-century parterre, walled rose garden, cascade, lily pond and follies.

Tucked between the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains, this red brick inn glows with a warm welcome and down-to-earth charm that attracts walkers, dogs, families and couples.

Helen and Chris Sheldon's Georgian townhouse is a 'well set-up, furnished and immaculate B&B' with a terrace that has spectacular views over Cardigan Bay.

Bedrooms with outdoor space and kitchenette occupy converted outbuildings at this unusual, dog-friendly B&B set in gardens ten minutes from the beach. A cooked-to-order breakfast is served in the Victorian farmhouse dining room.

Huddled below wooded hills, beside a stone bridge over the River Monnow, this whitewashed former 17th-century coaching inn serves delicious food and has great walks from the door to help you justify eating it.

It might not be as grand as its Isle of Wight namesake, but this Victorian house is now an extraordinarily opulent B&B, and guests have use of the spa and other facilities at big sister venture The Empire.

Down a tree-lined drive, amid meadows and mature garden, this romantic and secluded Georgian country house has cosseting bedrooms with a modern touch, suites in cottage annexes, two with a glass-box lounge, and both a fine-dining restaurant and a brasserie.

A 19th-century Italianate villa in 14-acre grounds, with 'breathtaking views' across the gently rolling Teifi valley, is today a hotel and popular wedding venue where polished wood floors, deep armchairs and soothing paintwork is 'reminiscent of a long-ago time of gracious and easy living', writes our inspector.

Tucked away amid woodlands in the Wye valley, Chris and Kirsty Harrod's restaurant with rooms is lauded for Chris's extraordinary Michelin-starred menus of home-grown, locally produced and foraged ingredients, including a vegetarian tasting menu.

The former home of the late Sir Bernard Ashley and his wife, the designer Laura Ashley, dating from the 1600s and remodelled in Edwardian Lutenesque style, is replete with country-house comforts, and is home to Sir Bernard's significant art collection and to a fine-dining restaurant.

A Victorian mock-Tudor fishing lodge in wooded grounds on the River Irfon is today a spa hotel and foodie destination with a country-house ambience and views to the Cambrian mountains.

Head chef Gareth Stevenson, who held a Michelin green star at Palé Hall, cooks taster menus, a set-price dinner and a traditional Sunday lunch at this revitalised restaurant with rooms, a Georgian house with views over the Vale of Edeyrnion.

High above the town, a modern hotel with 'exceptional' seascapes that are as restorative, perhaps, as the calm that washes over guests in the award-winning spa.