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.

‘A rustic gem in an unspoilt village’, this ancient coaching inn, built around a cobbled yard, is a sister to The Beckford Arms, Tisbury (see entry).

‘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.

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