‘Another excellent stay,’ reports a Guide regular this year, after returning to Lawrence Hoskins’s ‘very traditional’ town-centre hotel, once a coaching inn on the old Great North Road.

A luxury manor house in the Cotswolds, Lords of the Manor with beautiful gardens to roam in and dinner supplied in the form of hypoallergenic dog food, served both dry and wet.

They get so much right at Lord and Lady Manners's 17th-century manor house hotel. Expect a ‘friendly welcome’, ‘good ambience’, housekeeping 'beyond reproach' and 'interesting old paintings', many of members of the owners' family.

‘Our third visit. Most of the other guests were also returners. It isn’t surprising.’ Readers are drawn back time and again to this stone rectory in ‘immaculate gardens’, overlooking the Welsh hills.

‘A place for relaxing weekends and special occasions’, a country house hotel in a 'beautifully' proportioned Queen Anne mansion.

‘A wonderful find. We had a lovely few days.’ Praise from readers in 2019 for Hari and Colin Fell’s Elizabethan farmhouse-cum-boutique hotel in a Forest of Dean village.

‘My favourite place to stop when travelling north. It’s the tops.’

The Castle Hotel is a truly Dog Friendly establishment, with walks in The Shropshire Hills AONB suitable for all dogs (and humans) starting from the front door of this 18th-century hotel. A “Dog Welcome” pack is provided for every dog including feeding trays, bowls, leads and towels all at no charge, plus refrigerator space if needed. You can eat with your canine companion in any of the bar areas at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

A four star hotel in a Cotswold village, The Swan is a dog-friendly former coaching inn that provides a picturesque setting for a relaxing getaway for all.