‘Down country lanes and a mile-long private drive’, this Elizabethan manor house is the Miss Piggy among Robin Hutson’s quirky country house hotels (see index). Like that porcine diva, it embodies fabulosity with a dash of irresistibility and a great, big dollop of attitude.

In a peaceful Devon valley, this family-run historic manor house is loved for its architecture, romantic atmosphere, attention to detail and fine food.

The deliciously remote setting in a tiny Exmoor hamlet is as ‘exceptional’ as the food at this small hotel just 500 yards from the coast path, with views over hog-backed cliffs to the Bristol Channel.

It's partly the lovely situation, with a 'stunning panorama' across the Avon estuary to Burgh Island, partly the warmth of the welcome that bring some of our readers back to this beachside bolt-hole time and again.

'The perfect place to stay for walking on Dartmoor', the Graves family's whitewashed inn may be 'difficult to find two miles along single-track roads' but it's worth it when you get there.

Olga Polizzi’s cottage-orné with tall chimneys, verandas, gables and dormers, in an Arcadian landscape on the River Tamar, is full of flair – and of history.

It's the commitment to cooking as much as possible on site that distinguishes this small hotel, occupying a former Georgian rectory in the rolling South Hams countryside, between rugged Dartmoor and the beautiful Erme estuary.

Hosts Andy and Julian Banner-Price love to make their guests smile, and there is much to smile about at their award-winning boutique B&B, stylish yet infused with wit and warmth.

The bedrooms are all named after a cricketer or cricket ground and menus are divided into first and second innings, but you’re more likely to hear the sound of waves on shingle than the thwack of willow on leather at Scott Heath’s pub-with-rooms.

Drive down 'tiny country lanes', putter across from Salcombe aboard a little motorboat ferry, or walk the South West Coast Path to reach this remote hotel and spa with 'a commanding cliffside position and sublime views'.

On the edge of Exmoor national park, a fine Victorian merchant’s house – ‘an odd combination of Tudor and classical details’ – sits in lovely landscaped grounds that used to be a holiday park.

Stuart Litster and Kevin Hooper’s ‘superbly decorated’ B&B is in a seaside village, steps from the South West Coast Path.

Tony Pithers and Gordon Craig’s ultra-modern B&B stands in hillside woodland across the estuary from Dartmouth.

Play pétanque on the wide lawn here, or stroll down to the pond; on clear nights, settle in to stargaze: surrounded by the rolling hills and pastures of the Teign valley, Jo Gossett and Sam Perry’s rustic chic country guest house is just as inviting outside as in.

In the sprawling grounds of the National Trust’s Buckland Abbey, this sophisticated B&B is run with bonhomie by Bertie and Bryony Hancock.

‘Divine countryside views’ sweep away from Olivia and Hugo Guest’s Georgian house, on the hilltop of their 15-acre smallholding.

If there is nothing so nice as messing about on the river, there are few nicer places to do so than at Richard Seton’s dog-friendly hotel on the Dart estuary, ever popular with our readers.

You cannot yet pop a cork from the sparkling wine made with grapes from the vineyard planted by Michelin-starred chef Michael Caines at his Georgian manor house in parkland on the Exe estuary, but you can drink deep of the good life.

Surrounded by orchards and woodland deep in the Taw valley, this wisteria-hung 18th-century manor house is a ‘very comfortable’ hideaway.

Thick hedgerows border the approach to Julia and Martin Blundell’s peaceful rural B&B, in meadowland that leads down to the River Dart.

In a sheltered cove along the coast from the popular sailing resort town, this dog- and family-friendly hotel has a breezy, informal feel.

Woodland and riverside walks unfurl from the door of Nichola and Graham Hawkins’s rural B&B, which stands in peaceful seclusion amid rolling South Hams countryside.

Come down a single-track road to reach this Teign valley pub, its thatched roof, cob walls and wide stone fireplaces.