As much restaurant-with-rooms as friendly local, this 18th-century village pub, run by a husband-and-wife team, offers smart accommodation and cooking of a very high order.

'Gardez la Foi' reads the Poulett family motto over the door of this thatched, ham-stone village pub, and the trio behind the Beckford group (see The Beckford Arms, Tisbury) have kept absolute faith with their winning concept here. The ambience is friendly and relaxed.

Saved from decay, completely refurbished, fitted out with flair and a sense of fun, this Georgian coaching inn has bedrooms of great character and seriously good food.

Behind a handsome 18th-century façade, this former village inn overlooking the green is a contemporary drop-in bar and restaurant with stylish rooms, offering a mix of pub classics and more imaginative dishes.

With characterful bedrooms, this gastropub on the market square is a foodie spot, serving local beers and ciders, organic wines and creative dishes in which local, seasonal ingredients speak for themselves.

Black swans glide on the pond in the gardens of veteran jazz saxophonist Roy Copeland's late-Georgian mansion, with traditionally styled rooms, where an excellent breakfast is served in the orangery.

A riot of wisteria in spring, the Chapman family's well-loved, stone-fronted, crenellated hotel has a choice of bedrooms, some contemporary, some retro-chic, some single, some interconnecting, while all tastes and appetites are catered for in Brazz brasserie.

Eclectic menus and stellar cooking are a big attraction at this 14th-century clergy house, now a restaurant-led hotel with recently renovated bedrooms that combine pale paint finishes with designer wallpaper.

There's a wealth of olde worlde character at this 17th-century village inn, with smart contemporary bedrooms in a purpose-built barn, exciting gastropub cooking and wood-fired pizzas in summer in the lovely garden.

Thomas Hardy fans will be in their element at this local watering hole in Dorset, which was the model for 'The Sow and Acorn' in Tess of the d'Urbervilles.