Standing right on the quay overlooking estuary and salt marshes, in a coastal village of flint cottages, gift shops and galleries, Emma Stannard’s hotel is ideal for outdoorsy family holidays.

In the heart of Constable country, Wendy and Jim Sarton’s ancient manor house is a hotspot for painting courses.

‘An amazingly gorgeous hotel,’ writes a reader this year, of Tracy and Galton Blackiston’s restaurant-with-rooms, ‘ideally located’ for a seal trip to Blakeney Point.

Les and Vanessa Scott’s playful, Palladian-style house is all comfort and bonhomie.

‘Aldeburgh is such a delightful place, made perfect by having the Wentworth.’ Praise from a trusted reader for Michael Pritt’s Victorian hotel across the road from the shingle beach.

‘In a peaceful village near Lavenham’, this 15th-century former coaching inn is ‘full of character warm, casual, intimate, relaxed’.

‘One of my favourite hotels,’ writes a trusted reader, who spent four nights at the Nye family’s inn with views across salt marshes to the sea. ‘Good location, nice room, excellent food.’

In the Stour valley, close to the Essex border, Richard Sunderland’s pub-with-rooms stands in the ‘village centre, surrounded by landscaped gardens, with views over lovely countryside’.

‘A delight not only for art lovers but for all who visit,’ say Guide inspectors this year of Ivor Braka’s unique pub-with-rooms that upgrades to a full entry.

On a quiet residential street a stroll from the sea in a Victorian resort town, Jeanne Whittome’s boutique B&B impressed readers with its ‘bold, contemporary style’.

With the Norfolk countryside stretching away on all sides, Tim and Janie Elwes’s ivy-covered Georgian inn enjoys ‘a beautifully rural setting’.

Standing in well-maintained gardens, an 19th-century water mill is now a modern spa hotel.

With views across gently undulating Hertfordshire countryside, this sprawling old building, with its outlying stables and barns, dates back to the 15th century.

‘Well liked by traditionalists and locals,’ Emma and Hugh Asher’s creeper-smothered hotel was buzzing on a Saturday night when Guide readers arrived.

‘Our praise for the very hospitable Chris and Sally Entwistle and their beautiful house,’ writes one of many readers to commend this hotel.

In a ‘lovely old building’ a stroll from marketplace, cathedral and castle, this upmarket B&B is run with commitment and enthusiasm by father and daughter Dennis and Holly Bacon.

Near the RSPB Titchwell Marsh nature reserve, this dog- and family-friendly hotel is sandwiched between fields and ochre-hued marshland, leading down to the North Sea.

A bit of country cool has turned a neglected Victorian pub into a ‘terrific’ inn that retains its village local cachet.

In the middle of a ‘pretty’ village, this ‘intimate’ restaurant-with-rooms is liked for its ‘high-quality’ accommodation and ‘excellent food’.

Dripping with chandeliers, replete with plaster mouldings, this glorious Regency confection may have served as a camouflage factory in the Second World War, but these days it positively flaunts its opulence.

Overlooking verdant Parker’s Piece, this large, family-owned hotel is a short stroll to colleges, shops and cafes.

‘Unpretentious and friendly’, the creeper-covered red-brick building has been a good base for outdoorsy sorts since the Tudors’ reign.

Amid acres of ‘lovely’ rose gardens and landscaped lawns, this family-run hotel combines old-fashioned comfort and modern flourishes with ‘superb service’.