Stone House closed down at the end of January 2018.

The accolades continue as Clive James and David Stott celebrate their 30th year at their well-liked restaurant-with-rooms – ‘a very special place’ – at the foot of the South Downs national park.

The day is one long round of pleasure at this ‘luxurious but unstuffy’ Edwardian country house beneath the South Downs, where classic lawn sports and garden games make jolly the ‘gorgeous, well-maintained’ grounds.

In a pretty hamlet close to Goodwood, this former bakery and village store is run as a B&B by ‘accommodating, thoughtful hosts’ Heather and Patrick Birchenough.

Pull into this converted train station and take up residence in one of the refurbished Pullman carriages on the disused tracks: ‘quirky and charming’, this is a B&B with a difference.

‘An agreeable, solidly comfortable base for exploring the area’, Sam and Janet Bakose’s updated 18th-century inn sits off the A272 in the South Downs national park.

Lee and Katie Williams run their restaurant-with-rooms in a Grade II listed Regency building close to the antique shops and historic sites in a bustling, riverside market town.

On the edge of Pagham Harbour nature reserve, this whitewashed restaurant-with-rooms is ‘a wonderfully tranquil, timeless, tucked-away sort of place’.

With a lily-scented terrace in the summer and a log fire in the winter, all is ‘enchanting’ at this ‘elegant, comfortable’ Georgian manor house.

‘Extraordinary light’ surrounds this ‘characterful B&B’ in a decommissioned lighthouse.

‘What makes this 16th-century freehouse so special is the atmosphere: informal and friendly, yet 100% professional.’

In a ‘stunning’ location on the edge of a village in the South Downs, Amanda and William Godman’s ‘stylish’ B&B occupies two handsomely rough-hewn, flint-and-brick buildings on a tranquil courtyard.

An ‘oasis of calm’ in the South Downs national park, Moya and Richard Connell’s rural B&B/restaurant-with-rooms centres on a ‘stunningly restored’ 17th-century threshing barn set on a working organic farm.

In ‘well-maintained ornamental gardens’, this ‘handsome hotel’ occupies an ‘extensively enlarged’ old farmhouse on the outskirts of a ‘delightful’ medieval village.

Connoisseurs and amateurs of every vintage find modern accommodation in Christine and Colin Munday’s impressively reconstructed traditional Sussex barn, part of a complex including a restaurant and a wine shop.

A 19th-century resting place for the Household Cavalry as its soldiers made their way to Portsmouth, this 350-year-old inn remains a relaxing refuge for today’s travellers.

‘Simply lovely.’ In the foothills of the South Downs, this white-painted, rustic-chic inn is firmly rooted in the countryside.

Near the Chichester canal towpath, Mariella and William Fleming’s village pub-with-rooms has been rejuvenated with a fresh Scandinavian vibe.