‘Our stay was close to perfect. It was like spending a weekend at a country house where the hostess has impeccable taste and is a first-rate cook. All this at an outstandingly reasonable price, in an interesting and accessible corner of Kent.’

‘We enjoyed it all.’ ‘Charming host’ Amanda Lane greets guests with home-baked treats – perhaps ‘the best shortbread ever’ – at her ‘impressive’ Edwardian B&B in acres of landscaped gardens on the crest of the North Downs.

‘Always buzzy and friendly’, this pub-with-rooms in two ‘tastefully refurbished’ Regency town houses near the harbour is a good-natured place, liked by locals and visitors in equal measure.

Watch the sun set over the Alkham valley from Wendy and Neil Burrows’s farmhouse B&B in the Kent Downs.

‘An ideal B&B’, Daisy and Clive Hayley’s Georgian manor house, much made over in Victorian times, is approached via a tree-lined drive through large grounds.

Admire ‘marvellous sea views’ from Nick Conington’s ‘stylishly refurbished’ Victorian hotel on the seafront in one of Kent’s original resort towns.

From this hillside position above the town, take in the ‘glorious vista’ that stretches over the oyster beds and out to sea, with the Isle of Sheppey beyond.

Within walking distance of the Pantiles, this ‘excellent’ hotel, an outpost of the du Vin group, makes a fine base for the Georgian spa town.

Modern, Kent-inspired cuisine draws guests to this smart restaurant-with-rooms, in a little village between Dover and Folkestone.

Louise Oldfield and Liam Nabb artfully restored their 200-year-old town house with an eye to preserving its history while updating it for the modern guest.

Within a National Trust estate of ancient woodland and farmland stands Sue and Frazer Thompson’s tranquil Victorian farmhouse B&B.

All dark timber, glass and striking sea views, this sleek restaurant-with-rooms brings a fresh perspective to the traditional English seaside.

An ‘enjoyable’ pub-with-rooms, this16th-century hall house has been updated with stylish, unfussy bedrooms and a buzzy, village-hub feel.

In the ‘tranquil grounds’ of the UNESCO-designated World Heritage site, this hotel, part of a modern complex, ‘fits in well' with the medieval cathedral and its surroundings.