‘The enthusiastic welcome immediately made us feel at home again.’

‘We much enjoyed our stay,’ writes a reader this year, of this Edwardian country house hotel in ‘grounds of a sporty nature’.

A shooting lodge in the New Forest is home to the mother Pig, the first of Robin Hutson’s small but growing chain of family-friendly Pig hotels (see index).

Veterans of the hospitality industry Rona and David Pitchford run Georgian Macknade Manor as an elegant restaurant-with-rooms.

Once a month a string quartet serenades afternoon tea at this Victorian seafront hotel nicknamed ‘The White Palace’.

Tourists should ‘forget fancy London hotels’, say readers, and instead head out to Ruth and Samantha Trinder’s hotel close to Richmond Park, with tranquil riverside garden and terrace.

In a gem of a medieval Cinque Port town, this Queen Anne-style house designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens has a new lease of life as an upmarket hotel.

‘At night, surrounded by floodlit cedars and oaks, it felt like a movie set,’ writes one reader this year, after visiting the luxury New Forest retreat.

Far-reaching views across sheep-spotted countryside spool away from this ‘splendid’ 300-year-old malthouse-turned-restaurant-with-rooms above the Evenlode valley.

‘We enjoyed it greatly.’ For centuries a focal point in this prosperous market town, this ever-evolving inn has been a hospitable spot.

On the edge of the Old Town, designer Lionel Copley has created a beautiful B&B in this Grade II listed Georgian-cum-Victorian rectory.

Flanked by two golf courses, this 18th-century coaching inn, in a quiet New Forest hamlet, is ‘a great option for a relaxed weekend away’.

Rebuilt and reinvented by Bassam Shlewet, this small hotel brings ‘great service’, chic style and impressive cuisine to a picturesque stretch of the Thames Path.

On the outskirts of a picturesque Sussex village stands this ‘handsome, extensively enlarged’ old farmhouse, run by ‘friendly, attentive staff’.

‘The best of old-world charm and modern facilities’, this child-friendly hotel in a Cotswolds market town near Blenheim Palace has bags of personality.

A wisteria-festooned arch frames the entry to this prettily refurbished hotel, in a hilly Cotswold town.

A Victorian inn, originally built to house architects and craftsmen constructing nearby Waddesdon Manor, is now a ‘comfortable’ hotel run by the Rothschild family trust and the National Trust.

The ‘beautiful gardens’, ‘wonderful atmosphere’ and ‘pleasant rooms’ were highlighted by guests this year, who praised this ‘delightful’ B&B.

In the 13th century, a hostelry on this spot provided sleep and sustenance for monks on pilgrimage to Canterbury. These days, Daniel and Hannah Hall continue the tradition of hospitality in their ‘lovely’ 16th-century country inn.

Owner George Dailey revitalised this honey-stone roadside pub from a tired pub into a popular village hub.

‘The little things really matter’ at this ‘friendly’ hotel, in a row of cottages opposite the thatched church in a village of honey-stone houses.

With Chichester in one direction, the pristine sands of West Wittering in the other, guests at Lloyd van Rooyen and Gavin Wilson’s smart, contemporary hotel have the best of both worlds.

‘We visit Oxford every year and the Old Parsonage never disappoints.’

‘New Forest ponies or long-horned cattle may stage an ambush at the driveway entrance’, but regular Guide readers were happy to take the risk in 2018 to visit this ‘unpretentious, friendly hotel’.