Historic features are seamlessly blended with contemporary styling at this riverside gastropub with indoor, outdoor and waterside dining, and a menu of pub classics alongside more inventive dishes.

A fourth venture for Justin and Charlotte Salisbury, this 16th-century beamed farmhouse-cum-local, a former haunt of Dylan Thomas's, has a range of highly individual rooms, mostly in outbuilding with outdoor seating, as well as larky modern art, upcycled, recycled and vintage furniture, a restaurant and bar serving pub food with a difference.

In a delightful village, this 16th-century village pub, now part of the Avington Park estate with its trout fishery and leisure facilities, impresses with four beautifully presented bedrooms and some very creative dishes alongside pub grub done very well.

The red-and-white candy-striped parasols outside this wisteria-swagged foodie pub with beautifully styles rooms send an irresistible message: come in, it’s fun.

Do you remember an inn, Miranda? Hilaire Belloc certainly remembered this Georgian coaching inn, from which he described setting out in The Four Men.

Old meets new in this revived 16th-century coaching inn, now a busy, cheerful pub in a historic Wealden village.

Just off the M3, this unpretentious village pub with motel-style accommodation is family friendly and affordable, with a relaxed ambience and a menu of pub favourites, platters and Sunday roasts.

'A really nice place to stay, in a lovely quiet village setting,' this beautifully renovated 17th-century thatched inn lives anew as a local pub with rooms. Manager Claire Lenkowiec and chef Valerio Grimaldi-Plant run the show for the owners and, by George, they get it right!

Long a social hub for a thriving village between the South Downs and the coast, this family-run gastropub is highly regarded for its warm welcome, smart bedrooms and a menu that mixes pub classics with more imaginative dishes.

A bus ride from Greater London, in the Surrey hills, this whitewashed former coaching inn is a good mix of friendly local and gastropub with rooms, a good base for walking, cycling and picnics on Box Hill.

Just off the main street of this popular Cotswolds town, this family-run 16th-century former coaching inn is well liked for its three tasteful bedrooms, pub classics done well alongside more adventurous dishes, and an oasis garden at the rear.

Just a couple of minutes' drive from Petworth, with views over farmland to the South Downs, this gastropub has smart contemporary bedrooms and some exciting menu choices.

An ideal base from which to visit Highclere (aka Downton Abbey) or to spend a day at the races, this dog-friendly, equestrian-themed gastropub has bedrooms in former outbuildings, including the old stables, a wide-ranging menu of pub classics, grills, and imaginative small and large plates.

In a leafy setting just a stroll from the town centre and the famous Pantiles, this pub has six contemporary bedrooms, a snug in a cave carved into the rock on which it stands, a popular bar, restaurant and beer garden, and seasonally inspired, locally sourced menus of pub classics, with more exotic dishes and sharing platters.

Between the Thames and Windrush, this 17th-century pub blends all the charm of a traditional village local with rugs on flagstone floors, comfy sofas and log-burner, country-chic bedrooms including the impressive four-poster Blenheim Suite, and gastropub cooking in the atmospheric dining room.

Visitors to Daylesford Organic's farm shop can stay at this 18th-century Cotswold stone inn, a modern take on a traditional pub and the epitome of rustic chic, serving delicious and exciting dishes from a short menu of seasonal and sustainable produce.

Ten minutes from Henley-on-Thames, this chocolate-box-pretty, thatched gastropub has three swish, well-equipped bedrooms. The short restaurant menu mixes pub classics with more original dishes, while brunch, coffees, artisan pastries and simple cooked dishes are on offer at weekends in the barn.

Bedrooms are no mere afterthought at this Edwardian mock-timbered gastropub, across the road from the shingle beach, with modern artworks, many thoughtful touches, good bathrooms, a bar and buzzy restaurant serving a short menu of pub classics and more innovative dishes.

A stroll from the cathedral in the historic heart of the city, this buzzy local restaurant occupies a Georgian house-turned-inn, with splendid bedrooms above, some with a cathedral view, each named after a designer and styled accordingly.

At the heart of the South Downs National Park, this village dining pub, with smart rooms in a single-storey stable block, is the rural sister of the seaside Crab & Lobster, Sidlesham. It is country but no bumpkin.

A family and dog-friendly 18th-century inn with riverside gardens in the Vale of the White Horse, this is now part of Butcombe Boutique Hotels, which has refurbished the six bedrooms with botanical and Arts and Crafts wallpapers, king-size beds, vintage pieces and Bramley toiletries. Menus mix sharing plates, pub favourites and some more adventurous dishes.

Occupying a row of honeyed-stone 15th-century weavers' cottages, this dog-friendly hotel has an inviting locals bar, individually styled bedrooms that blend contemporary comforts with tradition, and a restaurant serving classics alongside more modern dishes.

Step into this 400-year-old inn and you find all the hoped-for buzz and beams and ambience, but you might not guess how beautifully the bedrooms have been styled (first-floor Great Tew is the showpiece), while the menu mixes superior pub classics with more modern cooking.

Like all Butcombe gastropubs with rooms, this whitewashed Georgian village local retains its personality while offering smart bedrooms and creative cooking along with pub classics.

Alex Winch and Sam Fiddian-Green, curators of Hilltop Dinners pop-up supper club, bring their passion for sustainability and farm-to-fork dining to this 16th-century inn with beautifully presented bedrooms, some with patio, and shepherds' huts with hot tub and fire pit around a fishpond.

Close to Canterbury, this family-friendly village gastropub has four stylish bedrooms, informal dining inside and out, and imaginative menus of locally sourced produce.

On a remote corner of the Isle of Sheppey, this former inn on the Swale Estuary is a birdwatchers' paradise, with smart bedrooms and a waterside restaurant serving highly inventive dishes of locally farmed and foraged ingredients, with produce from the dynamic kitchen garden.

Dog friendly, child friendly, cosy and characterful, this historic village inn near the South Downs Way has bedrooms that blend quirky rusticity with modern comforts, along with a menu of pub classics and more modern dishes.

Amid a wide sweep of Berkshire countryside, this thatched inn is part of the Butcombe Pubs chain, serving imaginative dishes alongside pub classics and with an interesting mix of bedrooms.