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.

Enjoy Victorian Gothic splendour and fine or more casual dining at this country mansion with a spa and golf course in parkland.

Overlooking the River Hodder in the Forest of Bowland, this sprawling 18th-century manor house is joyously traditional, with stone-flagged floors, open fires and bags of atmosphere.

Leave the fuss and fret of the AI(M) at Scotch Corner to reconnect with the land at this idyllic hotel, centred on a Georgian coach house amid gardens, parkland and woodland.

Country-house luxury abounds at this child-friendly, dog-friendly hotel, a Georgian mansion, its ‘well-maintained gardens a huge joy to visit’.

A favourite hangout of the England football team, the former home of Lord Louis Mountbatten is 'well-run', with contemporary bedrooms, cosseting suites, a good choice of eating and drinking spaces, and a magnificent spa.

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.

In wooded grounds with Dartmoor National Park on the doorstep, the Hassell family's country-house hotel and beautiful spa impresses with a warm welcome, great service, fine-dining restaurant and bistro.

It has undergone a lavish makeover, with quirky and extravagant interiors and a botanically inspired spa, but this 18th-century mansion in parkland is a welcoming hotel for families and their four-legged friends.

A family- and dog-friendly leisure resort in the Mole valley, this deconstructed hotel offers a choice of traditional rooms and eco-friendly lodges, morning-to-night activities, formal and casual dining.

'Absolutely faultless from the moment we arrived', Malcolm and Patricia Lewis's manor-house hotel (Relais & Châteaux) sits in landscaped gardens with a lake and specimen trees.

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.

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.

A tree-lined drive leads to this splendid Victorian Scottish baronial pile and luxury hotel in landscaped grounds, where dinner can be a grand occasion or a more informal affair.

A Regency mansion in parkland, once home to Percy Shelley's mother, has been reimagined as a contemporary country house hotel infused with a blithe spirit.

Koos Bekker and Karen Roos have brought to Somerset the vision behind their hotel on a Dutch Cape wine estate, creating an idyll around Palladian Hadspen manor house, with farm-to-fork dining, dreamy spa, unique rooms in converted outbuildings, beautiful gardens – and a Roman villa as well as two interactive museums.

Redolent of its sometimes racy past, this veritable palazzo, designed by Sir Charles Barry in 1850 for the Duke of Sutherland, sits in National Trust pleasure grounds above the Thames.

The Gloriana of Robin Hutson's Pig hotel collection (see other entries), this Grade I-listed Elizabethan beauty stands in 'wonderful grounds in a special location' in the peaceful Otter valley.

Garden suites with hot tubs, a state-of-the-art spa, brightly coloured sofas under gleaming chandeliers . . . this country house hotel offers luxury with a contemporary edge.

Bedrooms are spread between properties in Clough Williams-Ellis's extraordinary Italianate resort village, but this hotel centres on a Victorian mansion with Art Deco bar and fine-dining restaurant.

A 'paradise for foodies and garden lovers in a tranquil corner of Aberdeenshire', this country-house hotel in the fertile Howe of Cromar is an architectural gem.

A Victorian mock-Tudor fishing lodge in wooded grounds on the River Irfon is today a spa hotel and foodie destination with a country house ambience and views to the Cambrian mountains.

Gorgeous interiors and a friendly, informal ambience are a winning combination at Susan Stuart's beautiful B&B, where every bedroom has a sea view, and breakfast is quite special.

Once a retreat for Lord Beaverbrook, this Victorian mansion, filled with fascinating memorabilia, is home to chic contemporary bedrooms, a fine-dining restaurant, Japanese grill, library, cinema and spa.

All the bases are covered for a fun, relaxing family escape at this Jacobean manor house, which has a crèche, cinema, spa, pools, comfortable country house-style bedrooms, and formal and informal dining.

The setting is pure hog heaven at Robin Hutson's third Pig hotel, surrounded by a deer park in a fold in the Mendips. The part-Georgian building comes in the group's signature shabby-chic style.

With golf, tennis, kayaking and powerboating, indoor pool and outdoor hot tub, this spa hotel in 65 acres of garden and woodland on the Helford river is a holiday resort in its own right.