In a Tudor manor house in the Cotswolds just across from Cheltenham Racecourse, this hotel with spa and 90 acres of grounds is both family and dog-friendly.

A charmed 'village within a village', this collection of honeyed buildings houses chic rooms surrounded by pretty gardens, with outdoor pool, spa, cookery school, bar, and short, modern menus of country produce in the Ox Barn.

Amid gardens, native woodland and meadow, this 16th-century manor house is today a family-friendly hotel and spa with contemporary comforts and a choice of formal and informal dining.

'The Queen of Cotswolds cool Carole Bamford has again upped the ante at this sister property to Wild Rabbit (see Kingham),' writes our cub reporter.

With Thameside gardens and free mooring, this 18th-century inn has six courtyard bedrooms with vintage and contemporary furniture, a cosy beamed bar, a menu of pub favourites and creative dishes.

In 2013, Carole Bamford acquired the wisteria-draped, Cotswold stone, 18th-century Tollgate Inn and took it back to the bones, before complete refurbishment,

The Milsom family's Victorian country house hotel in Dedham Vale, in the heart of Constable country, has been subtly rebranded with the addition of a spa by the pool house.

A through-the-looking-glass sort of place, this hotel playfully inverts the traditional country house theme, with bold interiors created for new owners the Experimental Group.

In a picturesque, tourist-free Cotswold village, this creeper-swathed 16th-century coaching inn was refurbished in 2020 by best mates and hip pizza-makers Harry Henriques and Fred Hicks, better known locally simply as Baz and Fred.

This sprawling honey-stone building with its tall chimneys and leaded windows offers history, grand rooms and antiques, along with a thoroughly modern spa and 21st-century luxuries.