In the heart of the Gloucestershire countryside, this one-time Saxon hunting lodge, rebuilt over centuries and rich in Tudor detail, is an intimate B&B, with large and characterful bedrooms, welcoming hosts, and a Cordon Bleu dinner cooked by arrangement on Fridays and Saturdays.

Historic features are seamlessly blended with contemporary styling at this riverside gastropub with indoor, outdoor and waterside dining, and a menu of pub classics alongside more inventive dishes.

There is a wide choice of generously equipped rooms at this substantial, dog friendly, family-friendly hotel on the edge of the Burghley Estate, with a pleasantly informal ambience and imaginative, seasonally inspired food served in the bistro.

If you're looking for affordable luxury, this Victorian mansion in parkland, remodelled in the style of a French château, has spacious bedrooms, opulent suites, and a choice of small-plates dining or a tasting menu.

Refreshingly different from some more traditional Lake District offerings, this contemporary hotel is in a beautiful setting overlooking Grasmere.

Leave the fuss and fret of the AI(M) at Scotch Corner to reconnect with the land at this idyllic hotel, centred on a Georgian coach house amid gardens, parkland and woodland.

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.

From bread to truffles, they cook as much as possible on site in this 'very cosy and friendly hotel', in the rolling South Hams countryside between wild Dartmoor and the sandy beaches of Bigbury Bay.

To find a gem in a quiet corner of the visitor-thronged Lake District is not easy, but this smart village inn in the lovely Lyth valley offers 'top-notch food', 'great service' and country-style bedrooms.

A popular wedding venue, this Georgian former rectory with the ambience of a small country-house hotel scored highly with Guide inspectors for the superb cooking: a place worth visiting for the restaurant alone.

An Edwardian homage to 17th-century style, this beautiful manor house with rich Jacobean-inspired interiors is run as a luxury hotel with fine-dining restaurant where you can enjoy a 'truly memorable meal'.

There are mesmerising views of medieval Alnwick Castle from the Duchy of Northumberland's new hotel, occupying the Georgian Commissioner's house and former school, with further rooms in a modern extension, and 'top-notch' cooking in the restaurant.

With a history stretching back to Norman times, Helen Heraty's beautiful hotel has spacious, antique-filled bedrooms, an oasis rear garden bounded by the city wall, stunning views of the Minister and a fine-dining restaurant.

In a former smithy, shop and barns overlooking the village duck pond, this popular hotel and restaurant is undergoing refurbishment and expansion under new owners the Rockliffe Hall Group.

Caroline and Jonathan Kaye are fun and welcoming hosts at their B&B, a Victorian gentleman's residence in walled garden, praised by many readers for its award-winning interiors, individually styled rooms and suites, delicious afternoon tea and great breakfasts.

'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.

A Regency beauty with spectacular views from the balconies, this stylish, dog-friendly country-house hotel has a relaxed vibe, beautifully designed bedrooms, and a fine-dining restaurant.

It was nearly Howard's end in 2015 before two local families stepped in to restore the fortunes of this 'traditional village pub on the village green', which makes a great base for exploring the Cotswolds with its 'upmarket pub food, good service and excellent breakfasts'.

The rustic-chic bedrooms in farmhouse, cider house and barn at this rural Wye valley retreat in the Forest of Dean are all excellent, but the cooking is a still-greater attraction.

You don't have to blow a fortune to stay at this relaxed yet refined hotel in some converted barns, the former home of Langham Glass, and featuring many charming nods to its heritage.

With smartl interiors and imaginative, locally sourced, restaurant-quality food, this dog-friendly country inn on the Lowther Estate is a happy mix of pub informality and country-house comforts.

A fourth venture for Justin and Charlotte Salisbury, this 16th-century beamed farmhouse-cum-local, a former haunt of Dylan Thomas's, has a range of highly individual rooms, mostly in outbuilding with outdoor seating, as well as larky modern art, upcycled, recycled and vintage furniture, a restaurant and bar serving pub food with a difference.

Thomas Hardy fans will be in their element at this local watering hole in Dorset, which was the model for 'The Sow and Acorn' in Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

A lovely, wisteria-swagged, 17th-century Bath stone inn, this is a gastropub with a wide choice of characterful rooms, a serious attitude to food, regular comedy nights and an irrepressible sense of fun.

There is no isle here, no lake, no bee-loud glade – the name of Richard and Janine Burton's lauded restaurant-with-rooms draws inspiration from WB Yeats's Innisfree, a place of serenity and escape.

They have all their ducks in a row at this wisteria-decked gastropub with rooms overlooking the green in a village where mallards glide on old abbey fishponds.

Agatha Christie memorabilia, murder-mystery weekends and Art Deco touches set the tone at Hugh and Emma Asher's creeper-clad hotel, former home of the author's doctor friends, in a bustling market town.

Much loved by readers, this hotel, restaurant and social hub beside the Great Ouse offers a wide choice of rooms, an all-day lounge and bar menu, sophisticated cooking in the large, attractive dining room.