‘A place where the guest comes first’, the Grose family’s ‘lovely traditional hotel’ is run by ‘attentive staff who want to make your visit as enjoyable as possible’.

Atop a tree-lined drive, arrive to a ‘cheerful welcome’ at Jan and Adam Moore’s ‘excellent’ hotel, in an 18th-century hunting and fishing lodge.

Birdwatchers are in their element at this outdoorsy, dog- and family-friendly hotel occupying a series of flint-and-stone farm buildings close to the RSPB Titchwell Marsh nature reserve.

The Pear Tree at Purton closed down on January 2nd, 2018. It has had an entry in the Guide for many years. Anne Young, the owner, who has retired after more than 30 years helping customers, says: 'making happy memories for guests has been a pleasure.'

There are open fires here, and views of Skiddaw; the traditional chintz and prints are ‘part of the charm’, says a devotee in 2017.

A meander from the River Lune, this 17th-century inn by the old churchyard in the historic market town reserves a special welcome for walkers and their dogs.

The views are ‘stunning’ from this privately owned, ivy-clad Victorian hunting lodge standing in large grounds above Lake Windermere, the panorama of fells stretching wide.

‘We will return,’ vowed regular Guide correspondents after a stay at Chris Daly’s 18th-century manor at the heart of Dartmoor – and so they have, to find it, in 2017, as ‘friendly and laid-back’ as ever.

The lawn stretches down to Beaulieu river from this 18th-century shipbuilder's house. It's a fine place, today, to watch the boats on the water, as those once-upon-a-time shipwrights did.

‘The attention to detail, excellent service and quality of cooking at this brilliant restaurant-with-rooms have set the standard by which other hotels will be judged.’

Come to Austwick in May for the Cuckoo Festival; come all year to the Reynolds family’s ‘lovely place’, an ‘attractive, welcoming hotel’ in an ‘excellent Dales location’.

Step out of your yacht, if you have it, and on to the private jetty at Lana de Savary’s cliff-face hotel, on a ‘fabulously secluded’ cove; the rest of us will descend the winding road and admire the wide vista over the Teign estuary.

Richard and Brian Prideaux-Brune, with Richard’s wife, Alison, run their Jacobean ancestral home as a characterful – some say eccentric – hotel where guests are ‘cosseted and cared for’ by ‘charming staff’.

Come ‘home-away-from-home’, to Liz and Steve Morey’s ‘faultless’, ‘exceptionally good’ restaurant-with-rooms in the heart of Devon countryside.