In a Knights Templar village with a backdrop of imposing Cross Fell mountain, a Georgian mansion and converted coach house are home to a personable small hotel.

Wooded hillside forms a pleasing backdrop to this ‘comfortable country hotel’ in an ‘optimal position’ for exploring the northern Lakes.

‘A quintessential country house hotel.’ The Quinion family’s creeper-covered manor house in mature grounds ‘combines the familiar features and decor of an earlier age with exceptional service’, writes a Guide reader, a frequent guest, in 2017.

Guests are assured of ‘friendliness and an outstanding welcome’ from second-generation owners Christopher and Andrea Varley at this ‘lovely hotel in the heart of quiet countryside’.

For more than a century, the Baldry family’s ancient farmhouse has stood in this remote, ‘very special setting’, where the ‘fantastic views’ reach over the garden and the sheep-dotted fields to the fells beyond.

‘We know what to expect when we come: outstanding food, lovely staff, a restful stay,’ writes a returning guest this year at Glynis and Simon Wood’s family-run hotel in Cumbria’s most popular village.

‘We love the wonderful views and the air of tranquillity.’

There’s a ‘homely atmosphere’ and ‘a sense of cosy welcome’ at this unpretentious, gabled Edwardian country house overlooking Lake Windermere and Coniston Fells.

‘What a glorious setting.’ For more than 300 years, fell walkers and climbers have sought the views and comforts from this unpretentious, dog-friendly inn at the head of the Great Langdale valley.

A meander from the River Lune, this 17th-century inn by the old churchyard in the historic market town reserves a special welcome for walkers and their dogs.

The views are ‘stunning’ from this privately owned, ivy-clad Victorian hunting lodge standing in large grounds above Lake Windermere, the panorama of fells stretching wide.

There are open fires here, and views of Skiddaw; the traditional chintz and prints are ‘part of the charm’, says a devotee in 2017.

‘There’s a feeling of complete well-being about the place,’ write Guide readers in 2017 of the Dunning family’s hotel and upmarket farm shop just off the M6.

Let the hillside setting and leafy copses around this Victorian country house capture the imagination – they inspired Beatrice Potter to pen the adventures of her many woodland creatures.