‘A superb hotel,’ reports a trusted reader in 2019, of Robin Hutson’s Elizabethan manor at the end of a mile-long drive.

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

Buried deep in the countryside, Sue Burdge’s inn is so much the model of an olde worlde Devon pub that it ‘could have been created by a set designer’.

The ‘attentive hosts’, ‘friendly’ ambience and the ‘very beautiful’ situation are the standouts at this Georgian rectory in ‘what must be one of the most tranquil places in the whole country’.

Maureen Rowlatt is the ‘charming’ hostess at this B&B in a private valley, surrounded by gardens that extend into woodland and fields – an ideal spot for exploring Dartmoor and the Tamar valley.

‘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.

At the centre of a row of quarrymen’s cottages, built in 1820 of the same local granite, this ‘charming hotel’ is true to its motto, ‘steadfastly traditional’. It is in the small village of Haytor Vale, ‘just below the famous Haytor rocks’ on the south-eastern edge of Dartmoor.

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.

There are ‘no airs and graces’ at this Georgian rectory-cum-hotel in the gentle South Hams countryside between Dartmoor and the South Devon coast.

Welcome to Wonderland. On the edge of Dartmoor national park, Fran and Pieter Hamman’s Alice-themed hotel has been styled in the manner of a 19th-century collector’s mansion.

Rachel Heath’s ‘idyllic’ Victorian fishermen’s inn has a wonderful position overlooking Start Bay.

High on the south Devon coast, Gara Rock re-enters the Guide following a stylish revamp, and a relaunch as a ‘well-being retreat’.

‘A very welcoming place.’ Deep in the Taw valley, Jean-Pierre Mifsud’s wisteria-hung 18th-century manor house is a characterful ‘high standard’ hideaway, surrounded by orchards and woodlands.

The Far East meets the South West at Stuart Litster and Kevin Hooper’s inviting B&B in a South Hams coastal village.

Across the estuary from Dartmouth, in its own hillside woodland, Tony Pithers and Gordon Craig’s ultra-modern 1960s Butterfly house (one of four like it in Devon) has a curving staircase, angled zinc roof and glass walls.

In the former brew house, Bertie and Bryony Hancock’s sophisticated B&B is surrounded by the National Trust’s Buckland Abbey estate.

People get hooked on Adam Fox-Edwards’s country sports hotel close to Dartmoor, with its tackle shop in an original cock-fighting pit, ghillies for hire, and 20 miles of fishing on the Tamar and tributaries.

Cosy hotel or traditional pub? This 14th-century thatched inn offers the best of both, and will certainly 'tempt us from London again', says a recent visitor.

‘The food is, of course, the highlight, closely followed by the extremely comfortable room, lovely surroundings and professional, friendly service.’

Possibly the oldest inn in England, with a medieval wooden window pre-dating glass, this thatched village pub in the Teign valley is ‘a gem’.

'Thoroughly dependable yet stylish in an old-fashioned way', the Grose family have looked after this ‘family-friendly’ hotel for more than 120 years.

In sub-tropical gardens with views over Lyme Bay, the D’Allen family’s hotel occupies a grand Georgian manor house, once home to John Callcott Horsley, designer of the first Christmas card.

Just up from the River Dart, Julia and Martin Blundell’s peaceful countryside B&B occupies a characterful Devonshire longhouse dating back to the 17th century.

This lively hotel, in a sheltered cove, is surrounded by a wide terrace which faces the beach.