‘Whenever a special date crops up, we make a beeline for Gravetye and have never been disappointed.’

We have readers who have been returning for more than 20 years to the Wild family’s traditional hotel ‘in a picturesque village’ once known for oyster fishing.

‘A hidden treasure.’ On the banks of the Cuckmere river, this handsome, extensively enlarged old farmhouse is run ‘with the highest standards of hospitality'.

Between cathedral city and marina, set a little back from the main road, Lloyd van Rooyen and Gavin Wilson's smart, contemporary hotel centres on a farmhouse in a pastoral setting.

‘This is a chain hotel, but so kind and beautifully situated.’ A great, white Victorian edifice, the Grand is part of the small Elite Hotels group, but there is nothing elitist here.