‘It’s the little touches’ that make the Downs family’s Victorian country house a ‘lovely, charming place’, confirm Guide readers in 2017.

Overlooking Durham’s heritage coast, this Georgian mansion, all sea views and sofas for sinking into, is ‘a wonderful place, combining luxury and style with a friendly, relaxed approach’.

A ‘country house feel’ imbues the Robinson family’s stately Jacobean manor which stands in walled gardens, with farmland sprawling beyond.

In ‘an oasis of calm’, Peter Candler’s ‘impressive, imposing’ hotel stands in ‘an attractive wooded dell, with paths leading into woodland for exploration’.

The flagstone floors, cavernous fireplaces, labyrinthine corridors and barrel-vaulted crypt bar ‘reek of history’ at this cheerfully updated medieval abbot’s lodge in a conservation village on the North Pennine moors.

Wellies line the stone-flagged floor, a couple of stuffed pheasants take in the scene: an ‘oasis of calm’ overlooking the village duck pond, Jacquie Pern’s chic, rustic hotel on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors is a ‘really nice place to stay’.

‘Surely one of the best places to stay in the north of England’, Dee and Richard Slade’s historic coaching inn is run as a ‘characterful, modern’ pub, hotel and restaurant, where some of the best views are to be found at night.

Horses and coaches once trundled up the tree-lined avenue to this former stables in Yorkshire countryside; today, James Allison’s ‘low-key, relaxing’ hotel attracts a rather smarter set.

‘There’s a vibrant atmosphere’ at Tiina Carr’s ‘stylish, Scandi-chic’ hotel, in a ‘buzzy neighbourhood’ of shops and cafés.

Home to England’s oldest active convent, this unusual Grade I listed Georgian building by the medieval city wall also houses a café and good-value B&B accommodation.

Michael and Sasha Ibbotson carry on a 300-year history of hosting at this characterful country pub-with-rooms, on an ancient Celtic track-way to York.

In a Dales village on the River Ure, Charlotte and David Reilly have revamped this former Victorian school and headmaster’s house with panache.

Once a travellers’ inn, this Victorian house between Yarm and Thirsk is today a modern hotel liked for its ‘quirky accommodation’ and ‘delicious food’.

In its ‘quiet village setting’ on the edge of the North York Moors, this 14th-century thatch-roofed inn looks pure chocolate box; as with all the best chocolate boxes, there is deliciousness within.

Two Victorian villas stand amid mature trees and shrubs on the city outskirts, forming a ‘pleasant' hotel, well located for “doing” Newcastle’.

‘The food is worth the detour’ at this ‘friendly’ roadside drovers’ inn set ‘high on the hills’ near Huddersfield, with ‘tremendous views to all sides’.

Contemporary flair and classic English cuisine mix at this restaurant-with-rooms on the cobbled square of a Dales village.

Karen and John Clarke’s Georgian country house stands on a rustic lane outside the town, with views over the ruins of Easby Abbey from its large garden.