‘Behind the dramatic facade lies a beautiful garden,’ writes a reader in praise of this hotel and spa with its green oasis at the centre of a divine Georgian crescent.

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.

Rumoured to have been built for his mistress by the Duke of Wellington, although less imposing than its Hyde Park Corner namesake (aka No. 1, London), this is a fine Georgian house, run as a B&B by Nicholas and Claire Potts.

Watched over by a 150-year-old lighthouse, the coastal spot that inspired Coleridge bears the statue of the ancient mariner; but, just up from the famous harbour, Jason Robinson’s bijou B&B has more youthful appeal.

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.

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

A tranquil atmosphere and glorious city skyline views set the pace at this freshly modern B&B in a Victorian villa with manicured gardens.