Amid gently rolling countryside, this 17th-century village inn is both a proper pub with locals bar and a foodie destination, with nose-to-tail menus, craft beers, and lovely bedrooms styled with restrained elegance.

With its bright yellow front door and rhubarb-pink sitting room, this Georgian townhouse with cottages, restaurant in the adjacent ironmonger's and a courtyard garden masterminded by garden designer Penelope Hobhouse is both classic and chic.

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

Koos Bekker and Karen Roos have brought to Somerset the vision behind their hotel on a Dutch Cape wine estate, creating an idyll around Palladian Hadspen manor house, with farm-to-fork dining, dreamy spa, unique rooms in converted outbuildings, beautiful gardens – and a Roman villa as well as two interactive museums.

Trained chefs Caroline Gardiner and Alan Lucas have transformed this former village inn into a restaurant offering sustainably sourced menus of beautifully presented food with rustic-chic bedrooms and lodges, making it the perfect place for a country retreat.

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.

Behind a Georgian frontage with a century-old carved White Hart over the door, and dating in parts from the 1400s, this inn on the market square is a blend of cosy rusticity and casual chic, with stylish bedrooms, a beamed locals bar, snacks and small plates available all day, and a restaurant in the old skittle alley serving gastropub fare.

Popular with locals, this 18th-century village pub in the Somerset Levels has stripped-back modern interiors, boutique-style bedrooms with bags of charm, creative cooking of local, seasonal ingredients, and a wood-fired oven on the terrace for alfresco dining.

A 'popular pub in a beautiful village', this 15th-century coaching inn with its old arched carriageway has been beautifully made over in casual-chic style. It was a second venture for Dan Brod and Charlie Luxton, with Matt Greenlees.

Serving cider since 1851, this honey-stone village pub has been attracting attention since a lockdown makeover by enthusiastic new owners. Contemporary-chic bedrooms have good fabrics, a Roberts radio, posh toiletries, views over gently rolling countryside.