The Little Gloster is closing at the end of September 2020. A Scandinavian breeze flows through this pretty corner of the Isle of Wight. Visitors in 2019 share Guide inspectors’ enthusiasm for the ‘lovely, fresh food’, ‘amenable service’, and sweeping Solent views from inside and out at this buzzing restaurant-with-rooms.

Nautical styling is spliced with New Forest hospitality at this ‘friendly’ riverside hotel, once the home of Henry Adams, master shipbuilder to Nelson.

‘Our sixth visit, and a wonderful end to our holiday,’ write readers who stopped over at this wisteria-smothered hotel in an unspoilt New Forest village.

A taste of life at sea is creating waves at this large, contemporary hotel jutting out over Ocean Village Marina.

A Georgian house ‘charmingly set into the ancient city wall’, this little Piggy is wee, wee, wee – at least, compared with its country cousins.

Built in 1865 as the Britannia Commercial Hotel, this ‘homely’ B&B sits in a quiet location close to the quay with its web of cobbled streets.

Above the glistening ocean, Arielle and David Barratt’s cliff-top Arts and Crafts house lies in gated seclusion at the end of a cul-de-sac; a coastal path leads down to Sandown Bay and the beach.

Atop the cliffs of Sandown Bay, Mike and Carole Hailston’s ‘delightfully relaxing’ island hotel enjoys a ‘lovely’ setting: it stands within the perimeter of public gardens with steps leading down to the sands.

Innovative hotelier Robin Hutson turned to pig husbandry in 2011, alchemising this New Forest hunting lodge into the mother of his still-growing family of Pig hotels (see index).

‘As we pulled up at Hillside, Gert shot out to meet us, greeted us warmly, gathered up our baggage and took us to our room.’

You can take afternoon tea, as Queen Victoria did, at this ‘very good hotel’, perhaps on the Geranium Terrace, ‘the whole length adorned with superb pink geraniums’.

New Forest trails lead to a gingerbread Arts and Crafts house, the home and B&B of ‘perfect hosts’ Ciaran and Cheryl Maher.

At the end of a long drive past rustic cabins, a helipad and a forest-fringed meadow, this 21st-century rebuild of a Georgian lodge is a ‘highly professional, near faultless’ modern country house hotel.

On the edge of the New Forest, this comfortable Victorian villa in large grounds is a reviving spot.

Touring dogs and their discerning owners are warmly welcomed at Imogene and Robert Anglaret’s ‘perfect little dog-friendly hotel’ which has walkies straight into the surrounding New Forest.

‘My four-year-old loves Chewton as much as I do, it’s always a struggle to leave.’ ‘We stayed to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, and it exceeded expectations.’

Flanked by two golf courses, this 18th-century coaching inn, in a quiet New Forest hamlet, is ‘a great option for a relaxed weekend away’.

A New Forest Victorian verderer’s manor house overlooking a deer park is today a restful hotel with a popular restaurant at its heart.

We have readers who have been returning for more than 20 years to the Wild family’s traditional hotel ‘in a picturesque village’ once known for oyster fishing.