Roses ramble over honey stone and wisteria cascades around stone mullioned casements at this Cotswolds country house hotel, with spa, gym, cinema and ‘luxury’ written all over it.

You could be in rural France as you take a forest drive to this creeper-covered stone inn 'scenically situated in rolling fields in the Longleat estate', with tables and umbrellas under pollarded limes.

‘It’s like staying with friends in their country retreat,’ said our inspectors on a visit to this ornate Italianate Victorian house in woodland and gardens, with the ‘huge plus’ of an outdoor heated pool.

A beguilingly pretty 17th-century Bath stone inn with stone-mullioned windows and cascading wisteria, this gastropub-with-rooms with atmospheric beamed dining room is set in lovely gardens.

Fans of the Beckford Arms group (see Tisbury) will love the simple sophistication at this hotel, once home to a Georgian rector who went forth and multiplied and had 14 children to house.

Think of a quintessential English coaching inn – half-timbered facade, big stone fireplaces, low-beamed rooms, leaded windows, panelled walls, wonky floors – and you could be describing this 15th Century village inn.

A loyal following of guests returns time and again to this 17th-century house, with stone-mullioned windows in 'a lovely quiet location, with nice gardens'.

Approached down a mile-long avenue of lime and beech trees, this ‘very grand and lovely’ Palladian mansion exults in 500 acres of parkland and gardens.

The eye-catching 18th-century merchant’s house overlooking the River Avon has been imaginatively converted into a relaxed, modern-day inn with designer bedrooms and an industrial-chic bar and restaurant.