Following a stunning redesign, this family-friendly, luxury New Forest hotel and spa continues to set the standard for country-house comfort, romance, fun and superb food.

Big picture windows frame views of the Dart at this cool, contemporary hotel with a leisure vibe, uncluttered chic bedrooms, relaxed bistro dining in the riverside restaurant and alfresco.

This Victorian gothic mansion might appear a little forbidding, but step inside and you are overwhelmed by a warm ambience and beautiful interiors, while some guests choose to sleep in the woods in a timber-lined 'hive' or treehouse.

'Hotel settings don't get much more spectacular than the Polurrian's, on the cliff edge overlooking its own beach,' writes a guide insider. The relaxed family and dog-friendly hotel makes the most of the coastal views.

Life is attuned to nature at this country-house hotel in a Georgian mansion on a working estate. with walled garden, biodynamic farm, luxury spa, and two restaurants that celebrate seasonality and provenance.

Readers are unanimous in their praise of the welcoming, helpful staff at this family-friendly hotel at the top of the town, with lovely garden, light-filled restaurant, and glorious views over Lyme Bay.

A neo-Gothic fantasy castle in glorious pleasure grounds and parkland, the Cunliffe-Lister family's hotel offers a taste of country-house living, with opulent interiors, spacious bedrooms and suites, estate-to-plate dining and a spa.

In a Tudor manor house in the Cotswolds just across from Cheltenham Racecourse, this hotel with spa and 90 acres of grounds is both family and dog-friendly.

Alluringly re-designed, this Georgian mansion set back from the high street in a smart Huddersfield suburb, is brimming with distinctive spaces in which to sit, drink and dine.

Steeped in romance, this Elizabethan manor-house hotel is a place of contrasts, blending history with modern amenities, from the Great Hall lounge and four-poster bedrooms, to Scandi-style wellness rooms with outdoor hot tub, a state-of-the art spa, a Michelin-starred restaurant and more informal brasserie.

Brothers Rhys and Rhodri Davies have created six beautiful, Scandi-chic bedrooms in a Georgian corner house across the road from their popular bar and restaurant, purveyors of the famous Hive honey ice cream.

In wooded grounds with Dartmoor National Park on the doorstep, the Hassell family's country-house hotel and beautiful spa impresses with a warm welcome, great service, and a choice of dining venues.

A 'sprawling, traditional building in a beautiful setting' at the tip of Windermere, this family and dog-friendly hotel has easy access to lake-based activities as well as a spa.

'A little bit of heaven,' writes a reader, of this hotel in parkland in Capability Brown parkland on the Lansdowne family estate, with pleasure grounds, arboretum, a fine-dining restaurant and picnics to order.

With 100 metres of waterfront, river-view bedrooms, casual all-day dining, and plenty to do, this is a fun, casual hotel with a good choice of bedrooms at affordable prices.

A favourite hangout of the England football team, the former home of Lord Louis Mountbatten has contemporary bedrooms, cosseting suites, a good choice of eating and drinking spaces, and a magnificent spa.

A New Forest bolthole, this country-house hotel has an easy glamour, romantic and family-friendly rooms, heart-warming Italian food and top-notch spa.

Koos Bekker and Karen Roos have brought to Somerset the vision behind their hotel on a Dutch Cape wine estate, creating an idyll around Palladian Hadspen manor house, with farm-to-fork dining, dreamy spa, unique rooms in converted outbuildings, beautiful gardens – and a Roman villa as well as two interactive museums.

This historic plantation house stands in large tropical grounds on a white sand beachon the north side of the island

On a quiet, cobbled street in the heart of Soho is the New York addition to London's splendid Firmdale hotel group.

A stroll from Northumberland's award-winning beaches, this family-friendly hotel offers a mix of individually designed bedrooms, a fun, quirky bar, and a restaurant serving locally sourced, hearty, gastropub-style cooking for walkers and their dogs.

Centred on a Georgian farmhouse in Arts and Crafts ornamental gardens, with a spa, gym, cinema and contemporary bedrooms, this honeyed-stone luxury country-house hotel holds a Michelin star for Ricki Weston's inspired tasting menus in The Dining Room, while guests can dine more informally on small plates in Grey's, or from an all-day lounge menu.

Facing a three-quarter-mile white sand beach lined with palm trees, this is a child-free Caribbean resort hotel.

Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin and Elizabeth Taylor were among notable guests entertained by press baron Lord Beaverbrook at this glamorous Victorian mansion overlooking Italianate gardens, now an opulent spa hotel and treasure trove of memorabilia, with a tempting range of dining options.

Between woodlands and vineyards on a Burgundy hillside, this holiday hotel stands on a minor road, below an old Neolithic settlement.

With the emphasis on laid-back luxury, this Regency mansion in parkland, once home to Percy Shelley's mother, is today a country-house hotel that is part of the Signet Collection, offering surprisingly affordable bedrooms, a swish spa, a brasserie and pan-Asian restaurant.

In landscaped gardens with swimming pool, lake and specimen trees, this is a spoiling luxury hotel blending traditional and contemporary style. It serves inventive dishes, with good wines from its exceptional cellar.

Once a bolt hole for wealthy Venetians escaping the summer heat (plus Robert Browning, Freya Stark, Igor Stravinsky et al.), this charming little medieval hill town in the Veneto is known as 'the town of a hundred horizons'.

A home away from home in the heart of Chelsea is the aim of these red-brick Victorian townhouses, which have been converted into a luxurious hotel of dazzling individuality.

Amid gardens, native woodland and meadow, this 16th-century manor house is today a family-friendly spa hotel with luxury accommodation, a choice of pub food and more sophisticated dining, and plenty to keep the kids amused.