It feels a bit like finding platform 9¾ but trust us: buzz an intercom to enter a grand, buff-stone railway office block by Glasgow Central, ride the lift to the penthouse and step into a cool city hotel.

A delight for art lovers, this unusual pub-with-rooms near Cromer displays works ranging from Tracey Emin’s neon signs to paintings by Lucien Freud and Frank Auerbach on its walls. Local beef, and venison from the deer park is flamed over an open fire in the baronial-like Elk Room. Grazing deer and striking sculptures can be spotted in the grounds (binoculars provided).

A ducal theme reigns in Liz and Rob Cameron’s ‘beautifully presented’ townhouse B&B in a Victorian terrace just steps away from the green oasis of Christ’s Pieces. Sumptuous bedrooms are named after the Dukes of England, and all guests have use of the chic Duchess sitting room and balcony. Breakfast is fittingly splendid.

Ocean-inspired, in shades of blue, green and soft grey, Susan Stuart’s ‘beautifully restored’ brick-and-granite house overlooks the harbour. It was the former home of an 18th-century admiral, and is now admirably decked out with sociable spaces, peaceful corners for relaxing, a sunny terrace and ‘special’ bedrooms, ‘each one with a quirk’.

Warm northern hospitality and Scandinavian pared-back chic blend perfectly in this ‘smart, sophisticated’ hotel on the edge of Sheffield’s student quarter. Taken in the bistro-style restaurant, with a central kitchen, or outside on the patio, ‘superb’ modern British dishes are infused with a Nordic twist.

‘A must-stay hotel’, on a grand neoclassical street this independent boutique hotel promises ‘luxury for the curious’, and does not disappoint. The Grade I listed building has been given a ‘stylish’, ‘quirky’ make-over, with copious chandeliers and statement lighting, displays of brass instruments, dinky handbags; a spa in the coal cellar.

A charming, bohemian bolt-hole, this stone thatched pub is the Cotswolds outpost of Justin and Charlotte Salisbury’s small boutique hotel collection. Public spaces have rough-hewn walls, bold neon art, William Morris-influenced wallpaper. In rustic-chic bedrooms, vintage finds and reclaimed treasures.

'One of Dublin's best boutique hotels', this former home for retired governesses five minutes from the Museum of Irish Literature is now a glamorous hotel with a bookish bent.

A two hundred-year-old barn makes a dramatic setting for the modern British food at this restaurant and new hotel, a few miles from Shakespeare’s birthplace. The high-beamed ceiling, the granite, pewter, oak and flagstones are complemented by stylish modern fittings. Spacious bedrooms, in a modern ‘barn’ across a courtyard, feature floor to ceiling windows and have a terrace or a balcony.

Gloriously remote in its own 2,000-acre estate overlooking lochs and hills, Tom Lewis and his wife Lisa May run a farmhouse turned restaurant-with-rooms with a good eye for design and a passion for good food. Bedrooms range from cosily rustic to sophisticated spaces with wood floors, designer lighting and egg-shaped bath. Zany alternatives: a three-storey tree 'pod' and a self-catering wagon and cabin in the grounds.

You would need a heart of stone not to be charmed by the creeper-covered facade of this Strawberry Hill Gothic house, with its pretty ogee windows, decorative eaves and hilltop position above gardens tumbling to the sea.

Stunning panoramic views are matched with shades of sand, sea and surf inside this bright Mediterranean-style hotel – all coastal charm with bare boards and waves of blue. Perched above Carbis Bay, the large, sun-bleached deck offers a widescreen seascape from Godrevy Lighthouse to St Ives harbour. A bits & bites menu tempts with pan fried catch of the day, or fresh Newlyn crab.

‘Impeccable design’ unites a collection of Cotswold stone buildings on a beautifully manicured estate. The ‘village within a village’ contains botanically themed bedrooms, a pub in former lambing sheds, a beamed restaurant, cookery school, spa and shop.

A visual extravaganza, gallery owners Iwan and Manuela Wirth have lavishly reinvented a gabled 19th-century coaching inn with a profusion of artwork, installations and Victoriana celebrating the place, people and events associated with the area. Richly furnished bedrooms have tranquil views over Braemar and the surrounding landscape.

Bursting with quirky features, blue hues and snazzy fabrics and rugs, a heavenly makeover has transformed a former convent next to the castle. Handsome bedrooms (home-made biscuits in a cookie jar) include the Chapel suite, which has stained-glass windows, a roll-top copper bath and castle views. In the Bistro, modern British dishes have an imaginative flourish.