Close to the Assembly Rooms and other Bath glories, in ‘an unsurpassed situation’ yet ‘so quiet’, Laurence and Helen Beere’s hotel is smart and getting smarter, with bedrooms and bathrooms receiving a designer make-over

‘We only called in for coffee, but were shown around by enthusiastic staff… and came away thinking what a wonderful place.’ A reader was impressed by this Georgian country house hotel, set back from the road, in lovely gardens.

'In its glory, in the very beautiful Otter valley', this Elizabethan manor house is the fifth member of Robin Hutson’s Pig family.

You might find Cornish lamb on the menu at Rick and Jill Stein’s flagship venture in a harbour town on the Camel estuary, but it is for fish and shellfish that fans have come here since Stein transformed a dodgy nightclub into a basic hotel in 1975.

‘Wow! This was good.’ A regular Guide reader offered high praise after visiting Paul and Fiona Robinson’s ‘delightful’ hotel that gazes across Gerrans Bay on the Roseland peninsula.

‘The style is one of the unique assets’ at Teresa and Kevin O’Sullivan’s cliff-top hotel overlooking sub-tropical gardens filled with whimsical sculpture and statuary.

‘Definitely one to go back to.’ This ‘super hotel’, housed in a 16th-century priory on the River Frome, continues to gather fans.

‘The situation, the view and interior are all marvellous,’ writes a reader this year, of Karen and David Richards’s ‘superb hotel’ (Relais & Château) right by the harbour wall in a fishing village on the Roseland peninsula.

Surrounded by woodland and fields in the heart of Hardy’s Wessex, Jamie and Ariane Jones’s ‘olde-worlde’ thatched hotel, once home to the local shepherd, offers ‘a charming and very comfortable stay’.

A Regency cottage-orné, built by Jeffry Wyatville as a fishing lodge for Georgiana, Duchess of Bedford, is run today in characteristic relaxed-chic style by Olga Polizzi (see also Tresanton, St Mawes).

In a hilltop market town familiar from Ridley Scott’s classic Hovis ad (Dvořák, New World Symphony, brass band), this restaurant-with-rooms, launched in 1991, is as good today as it has always been.

With its cocktail bar and sea-facing terrace, Susie and Will Daniel’s buzzy hotel overlooking Summerleaze surfers’ beach is ‘a mecca for the young of Bude’.

Readers this year ‘ran out of superlatives’ after a ‘rather splendid visit’ to this thatched gastropub in ‘a delightful village’.

White walls, pleasant staff, bright sunshine, blue, blue sky, sparkling sea just over the road…’ For one reader this year, everything hit the spot at this cool small hotel overlooking Lyme Bay.

By the footpath skirting the Avon, this popular bar/restaurant-with-rooms occupies a Grade II listed building in a ‘delightful little town’.

Michael Caines’s ‘beautifully restored’ Georgian manor house stands in parkland beside the luminous Exe estuary.

‘Little has changed over the centuries’ at this Tudor coaching inn in a National Trust village. Familiar to Harry Potter fans as the Babberton Arms, it was once home to Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

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.

Not so much a restaurant-with-rooms as six rooms with two restaurants, this luxurious B&B is the creation of chef Paul Ainsworth and his wife, Emma.

Attracting foodies from near and far, this hybrid of informal guesthouse and restaurant occupies a 16th-century farmhouse, among acres of meadows and woodland.

A stone’s throw from the River Exe, this characterful property with a rich history has welcomed the weary since the 1720s.

Hands-on chef/patron Sarah Lethbridge and her husband, Anthony, have entertained guests at their restored stone-walled country pub for ten years.

Carefully restored, with an abundance of quirky details – a stream separates the dining room from bar – this well-designed roadside inn is a social media hit.