Close to the Assembly Rooms and other Bath glories, in ‘an unsurpassed situation’ yet ‘so quiet’, Laurence and Helen Beere’s hotel is smart and getting smarter, with bedrooms and bathrooms receiving a designer make-over

‘Behind the dramatic facade lies a beautiful garden,’ writes a reader in praise of this hotel and spa with its green oasis at the centre of a divine Georgian crescent.

‘Such a peaceful, quiet place to stay. The log fire was lit ready for our arrival.’ A new endorsement this year for ‘perfect hosts’ David and Louise Farrance’s wisteria-festooned B&B.

A row of former miners’ pantiled cottages combines into a rambling, ‘appealing’ country inn in a picturesque setting where, regulars report, ‘generous portions’ and ‘generous hospitality’ come as standard.

A scattering of jazz memorabilia sets the tone – and hits the right note – at this Georgian country house B&B on a ridge overlooking the Cary river valley.

Breakfast is served at a carved oak refectory table by the Great Hall’s massive log fire at Ann and Ian Dyer’s B&B in a manor house with private chapel.

Three art-filled Georgian town houses combine into this ‘quirky, modern hotel’, now part of the KE Hotels portfolio.

'A rustic gem in an unspoilt village’, this ancient coaching inn, built around a cobbled yard, is a sister to The Beckford Arms, Tisbury (see entry).

You know where you are with a Pig. The style set by Robin Hutson at Brockenhurst (see entry) is brilliantly carried off at this Georgian manor house.

In the town centre, a ‘beautifully furnished, traditional, very comfortable and cheerfully run’ hotel stands inside a wisteria-festooned medieval castle..

A Victorian villa set on the southern slopes of Bath, a ten-minute stroll from the bustling centre.

Central Bath is on the doorstep of Nici and Alan Jones’s good-value B&B on a cobbled Georgian square, a toga toss from the Abbey and Roman baths.

'Simple, almost basic but what great value' writes a delighted regular reader this year, about this pleasingly updated 18th-century beer house.

A foodie destination skirting the Somerset Levels, this rustic-chic pub-with-rooms gathers praise for its ‘superb meals’ and quirky, well-appointed bedrooms.

This ‘nearly faultless boutique hotel’, standing in ‘pretty gardens’, is in a leafy neighbourhood ‘within walking distance of everything’ – but guests might not want to leave.

Rumoured to have been built for his mistress by the Duke of Wellington, although less imposing than its Hyde Park Corner namesake (aka No. 1, London), this is a fine Georgian house, run as a B&B by Nicholas and Claire Potts.

In a medieval village dominated by a hilltop castle, between Exmoor national park and the coast, Nigel and Anne Way‘s historic hotel is showing its age – in all the best ways.

With its rough-cut stone exterior and thatch, the Red Lion is outwardly the archetypal olde worlde pub – ‘but’, say trusted readers, ‘in our granddaughter’s terminology, the place rocks.’

An air of a country gentleman’s private study filters through this rural 19th-century hunting lodge, with appealing nods to the rural pursuits that might occupy him.

‘There are chandeliers all over’ at Christa and Ian Taylor’s latest addition to the Bath hotel scene – the old Carfax, run formerly by the Salvation Army, now spiffed up to the nines, with the addition of a small spa.

A ‘good-value option at a good address’: a slim stretch of the River Avon separates the city from David and Annie Lanz’s peaceful B&B, set in a half-acre walled garden.

Attention to detail, peaceful surroundings and cheerful hospitality make Julie and Edward Christian’s ‘beautifully furnished’ B&B ‘a special place’.

Hands-on chef/patron Sarah Lethbridge and her husband, Anthony, have entertained guests at their restored stone-walled country pub for ten years.