The chapel, a French drawing room, medieval hall, gardens and nearby church are at your disposal if you wed at this battlemented ancient pile. Relax in the spa beforehand, party in the Bank Barn, sleep in a four-poster room.

‘This will become our stop-over of choice on the way to west Scotland.’ A full entry this year for Alison and Andi Sambrook’s ‘small, unpretentious hotel’ opposite the green in a village bypassed by the A66.

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

‘In a beautiful setting, with valley and fell views all around’, this country house, built for the daughter of a Liverpool ship owner, retains the leisured ambiance of its Edwardian past.

'A very special place.’ ‘Utterly charming.’ 'It’s not the Ritz, but you will feel like a lord.’ Lavish and frequent praise in 2019 for Wendy and Simon Bennett’s Victorian fantasy castle in the Eden valley.

In ‘one of the prettiest villages in south Lakeland’, Richard Rose’s former 18th-century coaching inn is firmly on Cumbria’s culinary map.

Ideally placed for exploring the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, Paul Spencer’s laid-back inn sprawls comfortably on the road to Lupton.

In the Lyth valley, Becky and Ash Dewar’s 16th-century hostelry is a village pub ‘with a modern twist’.

A cream tea on arrival and a hot tub in the grounds are among the pleasures that make Hazel Thompson’s B&B, in fans’ eyes, ‘the best in the Lakes’.

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

A gabled Arts and Crafts country house in extensive grounds with ‘tantalising’ views of Lake Windermere and Coniston Fells.

On a wonderfully scenic perch above Windermere, Tracey Robinson and Joanna Harbottle’s 19th-century stone-and-slate country house is a ‘very welcoming’ retreat.

The verdant surrounds of this Victorian country house above Lake Windermere make an inspiring setting,

By an arched stone bridge, ‘an imposing edifice’ surrounded by gardens that sweep down to the River Leven, the Bardsley family’s ‘good-value’, child-friendly former 17th-century coaching house is a lively, welcoming spot.