‘Relaxed and comfortable’, this ‘lovely, wacky’ hotel overlooking Cardigan Bay is ‘ideal for rest, fresh air, beach and coastal walks’.

What first smites the eye is the town’s medieval castle, formidable on its cliff-top. Steps behind it, this restaurant-with-rooms – in two adjoining 16th-century buildings restored and refurbished with contemporary flair – is no less of a surprise.

‘More than a B&B, this is a home that welcomes you for bed and breakfast.’

Landscaped grounds lead down to Bala Lake from Katrina Le Saux and Peter Cottee’s Victorian house in Snowdonia national park, with a vista of mountains in the blue distance.

Rustic and folksy, Paula and Peter Thompson’s ‘quirky’ 16th-century farmhouse at the base of the Rhinog mountains is a ‘friendly, welcoming’ spot and a fine base for exploring a ‘lovely part of the country’.

In walkers’ country, within the Snowdonia national park, this handsome Victorian rectory stands in a market town at the foot of Cadair Idris.

In the Tal-y-llyn valley, with Cadair Idris for a backdrop, Alex Yorke and Lorraine Hinkins are the ‘dedicated hosts’ at this 18th-century farmhouse–turned–‘exceptional guest house’.

Gazing over the Mawddach estuary from the foot of a tree-covered hillside, this ‘stunning, ultra-modern B&B’ is owned by Sara and Richard Parry-Jones.

Built over 50 years, from 1925, by Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, Portmeirion, the Italianate village, grew up behind this Victorian mansion, now a hotel that ‘combines old-world touches with stylish modernity’.

On the edge of Snowdonia national park, this historic mansion, lavishly refurbished, is today a sumptuous country house hotel rich in antiques, plush fabrics, fine wood panelling and painted ceilings.

Between the mountains and the sea, the former country home of the Armstrong-Jones family is today a luxurious B&B run by ‘delightful owners’ Neil and Marco Soares-Baines.