‘We much enjoyed our stay,’ writes a reader this year, of this Edwardian country house hotel in ‘grounds of a sporty nature’.

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

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’.

‘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.

Popular with locals, ramblers and foodies, this comfortably modernised Victorian freehouse-with-rooms welcomes visitors with ‘big smiles’ and a ‘warm-hearted atmosphere’.

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

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

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

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.

A jolly place, Karen Northcote’s ‘charming’ pub-with-rooms pleases with its ‘really delicious food’ and ‘welcoming staff’..

Walk across Petworth Park to this 350-year-old, quintessentially English village inn, once a regular stopover for the Household Cavalry, who would rest their horses en route to Portsmouth. .

Modern flourishes blend with history and tradition at this 'wonderfully atmospheric' old builfing.

Ahead of the curve, Susan and Roger Marlowe’s characterful B&B within the East Cliff conservation area has long been a bastion of sustainable practices and high-quality, locally sourced organic food.

The shipbuilders, boozy sailors and notorious Tenterden smuggling gang that once formed the clientele of this 18th-century watering hole, have been replaced by peace-seeking travellers bent on finding a decent meal.

Chic and rustic, this ‘simply lovely’ spot, in the foothills of the South Downs, is a countryside inn through and through.

Steeped with Scandinavian cool, Mariella and William Fleming’s renovated village pub-with-rooms is a stylishly relaxed spot near the Chichester canal towpath.