Here is an exemplary hotel, according to a discerning Guide Reader, ‘elegant and comfortable’, it has ‘an air of confidence’ that sets guests at ease.

Since Chris Staines and Silvana Bandini bought The Ollerod 18 months ago, its transformation into a ‘restaurant-led’ establishment has continued apace.

Guests feel ‘thoroughly spoilt’ at this welcoming hotel, tucked away in wooded seclusion at the end of a quarter-mile private drive.

Rick and Jill Stein’s boutique restaurant-with-rooms has been riding the crest of a wave since it opened more than four decades ago.

‘There is a timeless feel and magic about the setting’ of this Jacobean manor house. It stands in 'immaculate gardens in Thomas Hardy’s ‘vale of little dairies’.

Lynne Vincent is the perfect hostess and a mine of information at Roy Copeland’s Grade II listed Georgian country house B&B on the edge of a market town, the former capital of Wessex.

The Mount is St Michael’s, a tidal island best viewed from your bedroom balcony or the terrace of this hotel overlooking the bay.

'Such a romantic spot.’ Deep in the Nadder valley, amid narrow country lanes that are ‘a pleasure to get lost in’, this 17th-century house is owned by Grahame and Prue Senior and Simon and Charlotte Greenwood.

‘Expensive certainly, but it’s worth paying for quality.’

Elizabeth Barrett (not yet Browning) would have known this ‘charming, traditional' white stucco seafront hotel when she moved to Sidmouth in 1832 for the balmy climate.

‘An example of how really good management can make a stay memorable,’ writes a Guide regular this year, after visiting Ariane and Jamie Jones’s small thatched hotel in the heart of Thomas Hardy country.

There is much to fire the young imagination at this 17th-century manor house above Chesil beach, the setting for John Meade Falkner’s 1898 tale of smuggling, Moonfleet.

‘An eligible, self-contained gentleman’s residence, very unique. . . with every modern convenience. . .’ So Kenneth Graham describes Toad Hall, which he modelled on this Victorian mansion, a baroque extravaganza with sumptuous interiors, overlooking the Fowey estuary.

‘An idyllic place. . . absolute heaven.’ So say regular visitors to Martyn Scarterfield and Petra Lampe’s dog-friendly B&B with ‘fabulous views’ over Bigbury Bay.

‘A super place. The real deal.’ Praise from Guide insiders for Chris and Sally Searle’s B&B, in the rectory where Thomas Hardy courted Emma Gifford.

‘Perched high on the Lizard cliffs with views out to sea and the sound of waves at night, the setting could not be more romantic.’

Et in Arcadia we go – to Olga Polizzi’s Regency cottage-orné, in gardens and pleasure grounds with woodland walks and waterfalls, arboretum, fount and follies.

‘They really want to give you a treat and spoil you.’ ‘A lovely and relaxing couple of days.’ Much praise this year for Charles and Edmund Inkin’s ‘buzzy’ dining pub.

‘It never fails to please,’ write Guide regulars in 2019 after a return visit to Charles and Edmund Inkin’s dining pub with rooms. ‘We highly recommend the accommodation and the food.’

‘This place has a lot going for it.' A trusted reader commends this country house hotel and spa, ‘beautifully located’, on the edge of Dartmoor national park.

‘We have stayed at this hotel for many years; it is still brilliant.’ High praise in 2019 for Hazel Billington and Ross Lewin’s ‘small, beautiful’ hotel, between the historic fishing ports of Looe and Polperro.

'Sitting on the cliff-tops on the outskirts of Mevagissey’, John and Susan Gladwin’s small hotel is ‘relaxed and informal with a nicely varied age range of guests’, writes a trusted reader this year.

Deep in rural Wiltshire, on the edge of the Fonthill Estate and Cranborne Chase, this 'lovely old Georgian inn' is Dan Brod and Charlie Luxton’s sophisticated take on a country pub.

‘Very much the country pub, with a warm buzz to it’, this old coaching inn, built around a cobbled courtyard, stands at the heart of a historic stone village.