On a tranquil side street in a picture-postcard market town on the River Windrush, this higgledy-piggledy old inn pleased Guide inspectors with its ‘classic Cotswold ambience’.

‘As wonderful as ever,’ writes a regular visitor to Sarah Burgoyne’s ‘charmingly run’ Grade II listed, red brick Georgian manor house adjoining a private estate, close to Lewes.

‘At night, surrounded by floodlit cedars and oaks, it felt like a movie set,’ writes one reader this year, after visiting the luxury New Forest retreat.

Charlotte and Justin Salisbury’s eclectic hotel distils relaxed, creative Brighton into a cool Regency town house.

Closed down because of ill health at end of September 2018. Gerry and Ann Price ‘set the standard’ at their ‘well-run’ pub/restaurant-with-rooms, where the ‘hands-on owners’ foster a hub-of-the-village atmosphere. Closed down because of ill health at end of September 2018.

That artful couple Justin and Charlotte Salisbury have transformed a 16th-century thatched village inn (albeit one that had a helipad) into the newest Residence in their small, quirky boutique hotel chain.

‘A truly wonderful place to stay,’ writes an approving guest, who savoured the 18th-century red brick pub as much as Greyhound regulars do their pints of Titanic Plum Porter.

On the outskirts of a picturesque Sussex village stands this ‘handsome, extensively enlarged’ old farmhouse, run by ‘friendly, attentive staff’.

A wisteria-festooned arch frames the entry to this prettily refurbished hotel, in a hilly Cotswold town.

A ‘top-rate pub-with-rooms’, this 18th-century coaching inn (Fuller’s Hotels and Inns) near the cathedral bursts with character.

Brimming with an ‘interesting collection’ of curios from far-flung lands, Max O’Rourke’s characterful seafront hotel is both ‘splendidly quirky’ and ‘utterly relaxed’.

A metamorphosis is underway on the edge of the New Forest: formerly TerraVina, this comfortable Victorian villa has a new name and a revamped style.

A colonial-style veranda wraps around this refined 19th-century restaurant-with-rooms in a picturesque village.

A ‘delightful, friendly place’, this ‘extraordinarily good-value’ 17th-century mellow stone coaching inn has an authentic country air.

‘We enjoyed it greatly.’ For centuries a focal point in this prosperous market town, this ever-evolving inn has been a hospitable spot.

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’.

From on high, Wendy and Neil Burrows’s farmhouse enjoys stunning sunsets over the Alkham Valley.

Rebuilt and reinvented by Bassam Shlewet, this small hotel brings ‘great service’, chic style and impressive cuisine to a picturesque stretch of the Thames Path.

Famous politicians and luminaries have pow-wowed and partied in this country pile, once the rural retreat of press baron Lord Beaverbrook.

With Chichester in one direction, the pristine sands of West Wittering in the other, guests at Lloyd van Rooyen and Gavin Wilson’s smart, contemporary hotel have the best of both worlds.

‘New Forest ponies or long-horned cattle may stage an ambush at the driveway entrance’, but regular Guide readers were happy to take the risk in 2018 to visit this ‘unpretentious, friendly hotel’.

Veterans of the hospitality industry Rona and David Pitchford run Georgian Macknade Manor as an elegant restaurant-with-rooms.

Once a month a string quartet serenades afternoon tea at this Victorian seafront hotel nicknamed ‘The White Palace’.

In a gem of a medieval Cinque Port town, this Queen Anne-style house designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens has a new lease of life as an upmarket hotel.