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.

Tim and Anne Riley’s small hotel stands serenely on a steep hillside on the edge of a village where the Exmoor National Park meets the sea.

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.

‘Our first visit and not our last to this lovely welcoming hotel,’ writes a trusted reader, of John and Jane Bradley’s Edwardian hunting lodge, a beacon of excellence in Exmoor national park.

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.

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

‘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.

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.

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.

‘Lovely views’ over the city extend from Susan Keeling’s hilltop red-brick Victorian house, where ‘luxurious-feeling bedrooms’, ‘lovely location’ and the staff’s ‘helpful local knowledge’ are much liked.

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

Medieval meets modern at this ‘very well-adapted’ 15th-century farmhouse on a National Trust estate.