What do Jennifer Saunders and David Bowie have in common? Both have stayed at this ‘superbly relaxing’ spot overlooking the Tamar valley.

‘I find it difficult to make any original comments: all the superlatives have been used by other guests’ writes a Guide regular.

A ‘wonderful hotel’ with that ‘special feel’ of family ownership, Sue and James Murray’s manor house delights with its ‘history, beauty and style’.

‘My four-year-old loves Chewton as much as I do, it’s always a struggle to leave.’ ‘We stayed to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, and it exceeded expectations.’

‘This hotel is amazingly charming.’ A reader was delighted this year by a stay at this 16th-century priory-turned-hotel, ‘in a beautiful location’ beside the church and the River Frome.

Handy for the racecourse, this William and Mary mansion, built for Sheffield cutler Thomas Barlow ‘in the Italian mode’, operates as a hotel and spa, ‘ideal for those seeking individual attention and pampering’.

A golden stone Carolean manor house-turned-rectory in an ‘idyllic setting’ is run as a ‘welcoming, comfortable and relaxing’ hotel, under highly experienced manager Dorian Charlton.

‘The place abounds with creative uses of old, mainly farm, paraphernalia.’ Guide inspectors enjoyed Nick Dent’s diverting Georgian farmhouse turned dog-friendly hotel with most rooms in converted outbuildings.

Sweet flows Rabbie Burns’s beloved River Nith, past the garden of an old manse that the poet knew well. Owned by Jane and Ian McAndrew, it is swept up from the Shortlist on a wave of reader approval.

This ‘amazing’ restaurant-with-rooms in a converted 18th century malthouse overlooking the stunning Evenlode valley. Its new young and dynamic owner is Adam Taylor, and Michelin-starred chef Matt Weedon (a member of Slow Food UK’s Chef Alliance) has recently taken over the kitchen.

‘We enjoyed our very expensive one-night stay,’ writes a reader who pushed the boat out at Jeremy Goring’s grand Edwardian hotel, the last of its kind in London to be run by the founding family.

Meghan Markle spent the night before her wedding at this ‘magnificent’ Italianate mansion in ‘glorious’ National Trust grounds on a bluff above the Thames.

The flower-bedecked balconies at this manor house hotel offer spectacular views to Wansfell Pike. Dating from 1823, it stands in wooded grounds on the edge of Ambleside.

‘Comfortable, pretty and very English’, the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire’s smart hotel on the Chatsworth Estate delighted readers this year.

‘Our sixth visit, and a wonderful end to our holiday,’ write readers who stopped over at this wisteria-smothered hotel in an unspoilt New Forest village.

It’s a golden anniversary year for Patrick Burke’s sleek ocean liner of a hotel in mature landscaped gardens overlooking St Ouen’s Bay.

In an elevated position above this beautiful town (Asolo is considered to be “the pearl of the province of Treviso”), this charming pink-and-cream 16th-century villa has been skilfully restored.

‘We have stayed many times, and it remains a favourite,’ writes a trusted reader after this year’s visit to the Reynolds family’s popular, dog-friendly Dales hotel.

‘One of the nicest locations we’ve stayed at.’ Trusted readers enjoyed a night’s stay at Andy and Gayle Shearer’s boutique hotel on the seafront.

‘The warm welcome, beautiful setting and delicious food’ are ‘truly exceptional’ at Charles Lowther’s battlemented ancestral pile.

A drive through ‘miles of very narrow roads’ led trusted readers to this restaurant-with-rooms, deep in the Shropshire countryside.

Stone eagles mark your arrival at the gates of Nick and Charlotte Dent’s ‘impressive’ Victorian hunting lodge, down a single-track road, its lawns lapped by Loch Gairloch.

‘Scottish country house living on a grand scale.’ Near the mainland’s northern tip, this Georgian mansion is surrounded by woodland and waterfall on the Forss river, a fishing hot spot.

With views across gently undulating Hertfordshire countryside, this sprawling old building, with its outlying stables and barns, dates back to the 15th century.