A popular wedding venue, this Georgian former rectory with the ambience of a small country-house hotel scored highly with Guide inspectors for the superb cooking: a place worth visiting for the restaurant alone.

Amid 1,000 acres of historically important gardens, pleasure grounds and woodland, this romantic Elizabethan manor house, built by an ironmaster for his bride, forms an impressive backdrop for Michelin-starred cuisine.

Lakeland luxury at its finest comes courtesy of Gilpin, with its Michelin-starred dining, private hot tubs in the majority of its indulgent rooms and attentive staff. Its flagship rooms are extravagantly large glass-cube spa suites that extend over a pond and offer private garden, spa room and circular bath.

A beautifully proportioned Queen Anne-style mansion overlooking a duck pond, this much-loved traditional hotel has a new owner, but, after 48 years, Baba Hine remains, overseeing restaurant, bistro and well-equipped, spacious bedrooms.

Readers are unanimous in their praise for James Moffett's Peak District Hotel, a 17th-centiry gem, a paradise for walkers, where the welcome is friendly, the hospitality generous and the cooking hearty.

Caroline and Jonathan Kaye are fun and welcoming hosts at their B&B, a Victorian gentleman's residence in walled garden, praised by many readers for its award-winning interiors, individually styled rooms and suites, delicious afternoon tea and great breakfasts.

In a former smithy, shop and barns overlooking the village duck pond, this popular hotel and restaurant is undergoing refurbishment and expansion under new owners the Rockliffe Hall Group.

Sarah and Jonathan Stamp's Georgian farmhouse B&B offers three lovely bedrooms for adults only, a first-rate breakfast, walking trails, a trout stream for fishing, and bucolic bliss.

Olga Polizzi's beautifully styled Georgian fishing lodge, built for the Duke of Bedford and scandalous Duchess Georgiana, stands in a picturesque designed landscape with the River Tamar running through.

The ancient stone-built Bath Arms in woodlands on the Longleat estate gets a big thumbs up from readers for its 'excellent, attentive and pleasant staff', 'appealing menus', real ales and great-value, well-decorated rooms.

Verity Butterfield clearly loves to welcome guests to her loch-side Georgian house, with blazing fires, comfy sofas, good artworks, excellent breakfasts, and dinner by arrangement.

There is a touch of the baronial about this pink sandstone Tudor-style 19th-century mansion, a country-house hotel with fine original features, its public rooms adorned with shooting trophies.

A boutique hotel in every sense (if you love the furnishings you can buy your own), this sublimely situated Arts and Crafts Victorian country house is a perfect base for outdoor pursuits, with fine-dining restaurant, onsite pub, and picnics to order.

In a beautiful location on the shore of Loch Sunart, where otters swim in the waters and red squirrels scamper around the land, this 18th-century lodge offers country-house comforts and plenty of Scottish flair, ranging from tartan fabrics to homemade shortbread.

There are mesmerising views of medieval Alnwick Castle from the Duchy of Northumberland's new hotel, occupying the Georgian Commissioner's house and former school, with further rooms in a modern extension, and 'top-notch' cooking in the restaurant.

Attached to a 15th-century fortified tower house, the Mernagh family's farmhouse B&B offers both history and comfort. Guests are welcomed to this lived-in and loved home with tea or coffee and home-baked biscuits.

The team from Covent Garden restaurant Native has taken over this exceptional restaurant with rooms, continuing the ethos of sustainability and localism with wonderfully creative cooking.

For more than 40 years, Raymond Blanc has held two Michelin stars at this beautiful country-house hotel 'and in our opinion, it's a travesty that he hasn't been awarded three', say Guide insiders.

In deepest Constable country, Wendy and Jim Sarton's characterful timber-frame manor house specialises in residential art courses; there is a large studio in the ground for workshops from tutors in various mediums. But even if you're not interested in taking a course, it's a great place for an 'extremely relaxing weekend'.

Readers return time and again to Gary and Donna MacRae's small, adults-only country-house hotel in woodland gardens, with immaculate bedrooms, fell views, and outstanding nightly set-price dinner, preceded by aperitifs and canapés in the lounge.

There is a happy sense of continuity at this classic Georgian country house, where sixth-generation owners Louise and John Mathers have been welcoming guests since 2005.

Everything is peachy at this apricot-hued Georgian country house in the Vale of Belvoir, at the end of a long avenue of lime trees, transformed from a family home into a delightful, idiosyncratic and much-loved hotel.

With its towers and battlements this Victorian-folly castle, in 15 acres of grounds, looks imposing yet 'you actually feel like it is your castle'.

Eligible military guests receive a discount at this Edwardian gem of a Scottish revival country house in beautifully maintained gardens, owned by a charitable trust and filled with family mementoes, where bedrooms blend classic and contemporary style and tasting menus feature produce from the walled kitchen garden.