‘Whenever a special date crops up, we make a beeline for Gravetye and have never been disappointed.’

David Stott and Clive James ‘nurture an atmosphere of repose and tranquillity, along with informality and laughter and the friendliest of warm welcomes’ at their restaurant-with-rooms beneath the South Downs.

There are treats in store for guests behind the chequerboard facade of this B&B, in a ‘pretty’ South Downs village close to Chichester.

Innovative hotelier Robin Hutson turned to pig husbandry in 2011, alchemising this New Forest hunting lodge into the mother of his still-growing family of Pig hotels (see index).

Some grown men play with train sets. Gudmund Olafsson went further in 2005, when he bought one of Britain’s most beautiful railway stations, renovating the property and the four Edwardian Pullman carriages on its disused line.

‘Well placed for visiting the historic market towns' of Midhurst and Petworth, Sam and Janet Bakose’s 18th-century inn proved more than halfway decent on a Guide inspection.

Visitors to Lee and Katie Williams’s town-centre restaurant-with-rooms this year raved about ‘everything: the food, the accommodation, the location – all was perfect'.

‘We enjoyed the waterside location,’ write trusted readers this year, drawn back for a third stay at Sam and Janet Bakose’s 350-year-old inn overlooking Pagham Harbour with its reserve of mudflats and salt marsh.

‘You are essentially staying in someone’s beautiful farmhouse, with an exquisite garden and delicious breakfast.’ A reader reaffirms her support this year for Sarah Burgoyne’s ‘wonderful’ B&B.

At the end of a long drive past rustic cabins, a helipad and a forest-fringed meadow, this 21st-century rebuild of a Georgian lodge is a ‘highly professional, near faultless’ modern country house hotel.

To the lighthouse! And if you have a mind to visit this unique B&B, make it quite soon. In 1999 it had to be moved from the crumbling chalk cliff edge; in around a decade it will be in peril again.

Award-winning chef Kuba Winkowski marks his tenth year at Tony and Amanda Timmer’s ‘truly amazing’ restaurant-with-rooms, in a converted malthouse. Its garden overlooks the Evenlode valley.

Nick Mash has taken a step back to the future in reinventing the 18th-century red brick Three Horseshoes pub as a restaurant-with-rooms.

In the Vale of the White Horse guests enjoy ‘delicious’ food, ‘exceptional’ accommodation, and a ‘fine welcome’ at this 18-century country pub with ‘a lovely beer garden’.

‘A hidden treasure.’ On the banks of the Cuckmere river, this handsome, extensively enlarged old farmhouse is run ‘with the highest standards of hospitality'.

On the edge of the New Forest, this comfortable Victorian villa in large grounds is a reviving spot.

A ‘delightful, friendly place’, this ‘extraordinarily good-value’ 17th-century mellow stone coaching inn has recently been refreshed, yet retains its authentic country air.

Double-moated 13th-century Hever Castle, the childhood home of ill-fated Anne Boleyn, is now home to a sumptuous B&B.

New Forest trails lead to a gingerbread Arts and Crafts house, the home and B&B of ‘perfect hosts’ Ciaran and Cheryl Maher.

Just a few minutes’ drive from RHS Wisley, Mindi McLean’s refurbished B&B in a 200-year-old listed barn is filled with little luxuries.

Flanked by two golf courses, this 18th-century coaching inn, in a quiet New Forest hamlet, is ‘a great option for a relaxed weekend away’.

‘We were very well looked after,’ report readers in 2019. From on high, ‘warm, attentive’ Wendy and Neil Burrows’s farmhouse enjoys stunning sunsets over the Alkham Valley.

Rebuilt and reinvented by Bassam Shlewet, this award-winning boutique hotel brings ‘great service’, chic style and impressive cuisine to a picturesque stretch of the Thames Path.

Nautical styling is spliced with New Forest hospitality at this ‘friendly’ riverside hotel, once the home of Henry Adams, master shipbuilder to Nelson.