‘There is much to like and laugh about’ at this utterly transformed Grade I listed Elizabethan manor house, in a ‘glorious setting’ in the Otter valley.

In a valley on the north Exmoor coast, Mark and Pat Cowell’s ‘friendly, unpretentious' hotel stands at the end of a long private drive ‘close to wonderful walks and fabulous scenery’.

Pile in for the jolly quiz night, or sample one of the whiskies from an astonishing collection at Sue Burdge’s 17th-century dwelling house–turned–lively village pub-with-rooms.

‘In an utterly peaceful valley, Richard Johnston’s quirky B&B is a cross between a 1930s rural escape and an eccentric aristocrat’s home, with a bit of adventure at every turn, and lots to keep you entertained.’

In ‘what must be one of the most tranquil places in the country’, Huw Rees and Sam Prosser run their ‘splendid’ hotel, a handsomely converted Georgian rectory in large, well-maintained grounds.

‘Bridlepath,’ cautions the sign, ‘no vehicular access.’ Press on regardless to reach Maureen Rowlatt’s arcadian B&B in gardens and woodland on the edge of Dartmoor.

‘We cannot fault The Henley – it is one of the best traditions of our lives,’ write regular visitors to Martyn Scarterfield and Petra Lampe’s Edwardian holiday cottage, from which a cliff path leads to the beach.

In springtime, wisteria festoons Jean-Pierre Mifsud’s 18th-century manor house, an ‘oasis of tranquillity’ set amid orchards and woodlands in the Taw valley.

Olga Polizzi’s countryside retreat, at its origin a Regency fishing lodge created for the Duchess of Bedford, is today an ‘unpretentious, wholly enjoyable’ hotel ‘decorated with charm and taste’.

‘The Grose family maintains its excellent tradition’ of providing first-class hospitality near the rugged Devon coastline, where consecutive generations have run the family-friendly hotel for more than 120 years.

Well placed for walkers on the South West Coast Path, this 19th-century fisherman’s inn faces the beach on Start Bay.

‘As delightful as ever’, reports a trusted Guide correspondent in 2017, of Adam Fox-Edwards’s former coaching inn–turned–sporting hotel near Dartmoor.

‘We will return,’ vowed regular Guide correspondents after a stay at Chris Daly’s 18th-century manor at the heart of Dartmoor – and so they have, to find it, in 2017, as ‘friendly and laid-back’ as ever.

Rock-solid traditional values win praise for the Graves family’s late Georgian village inn, at the centre of a terrace of cottages on the edge of Dartmoor.

Wake to birdsong at this mellow stone building in secluded gardens – Bertie and Bryony Hancock’s sophisticated B&B is surrounded by the National Trust’s Buckland Abbey estate, and the 700 acres of grounds that come with it.

In a village on the Jurassic coast, step through the ivy-wrapped threshold of this 14th-century former cider house and into a popular pub-with-rooms.

‘Warm and familiar’, this country hotel, in ‘a chocolate-box-perfect part of Exmoor’, has been refurbished in a ‘luxurious, contemporary’ style by its owner, Claire Carter.

A characterful 17th-century longhouse in the Devonshire countryside is home to Julia and Martin Blundell’s tranquil B&B.

At high tide, the waves come up to the wraparound terrace of this ‘beautifully designed’ beachside hotel, sheltered in a pretty cove.

On the Salcombe estuary, this Victorian hotel makes the most of the panoramic vista across the water, with wide terraces, huge windows and binoculars in the bedrooms to take in the views.

Pack the wellies and be ready to go off-road: this inviting quayside hotel welcomes dogs and muddy boots coming off the South West Coast Path.

Pigs, lambs and chickens are the nearest neighbours at Nichola and Graham Hawkins’s B&B on a small working farm between Totnes and Dartmouth.