There’s a great atmosphere at this privately owned country house spa hotel (Relais & Châteaux), unstintingly luxurious yet completely family friendly.

‘Our favourite small hotel – simply the best run we’ve ever stayed at.’ The Cunliffe family’s ‘great’ country house hotel continues to please Guide readers.

‘Just about perfect for a restful break – this is what a good hotel should be,’ writes a reader this year of the Burke family’s ‘wonderfully maintained’ luxury hotel, on a headland above St Ouen’s Bay.

‘A hotel with heart and soul’, this long-time favourite overlooking Cardigan Bay has been ‘well run’ by the Cave family and ‘unfailingly cheerful’ staff for more than a century.

‘Top of its class’, this ‘wonderful’, well-run country house hotel and spa beneath the South Downs wins praise from guests who appreciate the ‘beautiful’, ‘well-maintained’ grounds and the ‘intimate’, ‘relaxed’ atmosphere within.

‘Chill out’ and join the red squirrels, pheasants and partridges who call this leafy conservation village home.

Rumble across a bridge at the mouth of Loch Creran to reach this ‘simply faultless’ Victorian baronial mansion, a luxury spa hotel, with a Michelin-starred restaurant, on a private pleasure island. ‘A magical place,’ say guests in 2016.

Come and be spoiled at the O’Flynns’ large country house on the Wicklow/Kildare border, where the staff ‘make you feel so welcome’.

Sporting prints abound, and display cabinets here showcase ‘monster’ fishing trophies – a sign of this country hotel’s long association with salmon fishing.