‘Nothing compares’ with the Cunliffes’ ‘really special’ country house hotel and its glamorous satellite, Lake House, with spa, half a mile away.

‘Everything about this small, personal hotel was faultless, from the accommodation, food and helpful staff to the overall atmosphere.’ Readers loved this year’s stay at Kath and Liam Berney’s restaurant-with-rooms on Whinlatter Pass.

In the once lawless Debatable Lands, Gerald and Margo Smith have brought order to a former coaching inn-turned-contemporary hotel.

‘Simply awesome,' writes a reader this year, about this 'fabulous' hotel on wooded slopes overlooking Grasmere.

An anniversary in 2020, and a valediction: a century after this Victorian private house first opened to paying guests, and 13 years after they took over, Glynis and Simon Wood are preparing to retire.