‘An amazingly gorgeous hotel,’ writes a reader this year, of Tracy and Galton Blackiston’s restaurant-with-rooms, ‘ideally located’ for a seal trip to Blakeney Point.

‘In a peaceful village near Lavenham’, this 15th-century former coaching inn is ‘full of character warm, casual, intimate, relaxed’.

Near the RSPB Titchwell Marsh nature reserve, this dog- and family-friendly hotel is sandwiched between fields and ochre-hued marshland, leading down to the North Sea.

Anyone braving the climb to the top of Julian and Carolyn Godlee’s characterful B&B and restaurant is well rewarded.

A country retreat just outside St Albans occupies an extended 300-year-old manor house, once the home of Lord Louis Mountbatten.

‘So cosy and welcoming’, a swish hotel (TA Hotel Collection, see also The Crown, Woodbridge, Shortlist) formed from three timber-framed 15th-century buildings in a medieval village.

In a ‘quaint village’ just off the Great North Road, Anne and Richard Furbank’s 19th-century coaching inn is done up with a dash of good-humour.

Visitors answering the call of the wild birds at the RSPB nature reserve at Minsmere convene with locals at this 12th-century coaching inn, much-liked for its dog-friendly atmosphere.

Standing in well-maintained gardens, an 19th-century water mill is now a modern spa hotel.

With views across gently undulating Hertfordshire countryside, this sprawling old building, with its outlying stables and barns, dates back to the 15th century.

Dripping with chandeliers, replete with plaster mouldings, this glorious Regency confection may have served as a camouflage factory in the Second World War, but these days it positively flaunts its opulence.

Amid acres of ‘lovely’ rose gardens and landscaped lawns, this family-run hotel combines old-fashioned comfort and modern flourishes with ‘superb service’.

‘Helpful staff’ and a ‘very convenient location’ on the River Cam win top marks for this modern hotel.