In ‘lovely Cotswold stone buildings around a pretty courtyard’, this mostly 16th-century former coaching inn has had a stylish make-over.

‘We stumbled across the hotel quite by accident – oh, serendipity! We plan to return.’ Newcomers this year to the Hine family’s ‘gracious’ pink brick Queen Anne coaching inn join a loyal following,

‘In a pretty south Cotswolds village', this is a ‘fun, relaxing place’. A Palladian mansion with Arts and Crafts refinements and an Italianate logia, it was recently made over for the Calcot Collection.

‘A lovely, family-friendly hotel,’ was Guide inspectors' verdict on this 16th-century stone manor house with spa in beautiful grounds, ‘looking out over rolling hills’.

Readers ‘had a really lovely, relaxing stay’ at Lila Arora’s apricot-washed Georgian mansion, approached by an avenue of lime trees amid sheep-grazed pastures.

Surrounded by manicured lawns, wild meadow flowers and woodland, this Cotswold-stone manor house, a few miles outside Tetbury, has ‘exceptional staff, excellent service, delightful furnishings’.

‘Very enjoyable; a place for relaxing weekends and special occasions,’ say Guide inspectors of the ‘beautifully proportioned Queen Anne mansion in spacious grounds’.

‘We were welcomed with a complimentary Pimm’s,’ write Guide insiders, who dined at James Moffett’s historic stone manor house in the Peak District national park.

‘The hotel, its staff and food were exquisite,’ a reader writes of an anniversary visit to Max and Susan Fischer’s stone manor house, in a village on the fringe of Chatsworth Park.

Overlooking National Trust parkland, this Georgian country house has ‘a real sense of grandeur’, say inspectors in 2018.

A 19th-century cottage and barn combine as one exceptional B&B on private land within the Peak District national park.

On the ‘picturesque green’ of a ‘peaceful and stunning’ Cotswolds village, this 400-year-old inn was taken over in 2015 by two local families, providing a welcome breath of new life.

Hereford Castle is long gone, but ducks bob happily on the old moat beside the terraced garden of the Watkins family’s hotel.

Returning guests in 2018 ‘enjoyed a relaxing time in warmth and comfort’ at Tim Hart’s purpose-built hotel, on the former ramparts of Nottingham’s medieval castle.

Henry VIII gave the manor of Barnsley to each wife in turn – the old romantic! – before it passed to the Bourchier family, who built this Cotswold stone house in the 1690s.

For ‘a quiet weekend in a friendly, characterful hotel among bucolic surroundings’, John and Sue Cushing’s red brick Georgian manor ‘fits the bill perfectly’.

A 17th-century mellow stone building overlooking the ‘broad way’ with its cafés, antique shops and milling tourists, is run as a well-regarded restaurant-with-rooms by Andrew and Gaynor Riley.

‘We were made so welcome and were well looked after,’ writes a reader, of a stay at this pub-with-rooms at the meeting point of two old drovers’ roads.

In ‘a lovely rural location’ yet within easy reach of the town centre and Worcester cathedral, Chrissie Mitchell's ‘spotless' and 'very reasonable' B&B is ‘surrounded by delight’.

‘Twin sentinel clipped yews’ stand at the entrance of this 15th-century half-timbered stone hotel, part of the Cotswolds Inns and Hotels group.

‘A homely village pub within easy reach of the A1 and well worth the detour,’ writes a trusted Guide reader after a three-night stay at Paul and Lorraine Willoughby’s traditional inn.

A charming stopover not far from the M1, Charles and Charlotte Meynell’s B&B in a listed Georgian manor house has bags of country house style and a splendid walled garden.

Barbara and Simon Andersen ‘get almost everything right’ at their small hotel in a market town in the Wye valley, a friendly, affordable base for exploring the Forest of Dean.

A smart trot up the bridleway stands artist Jane Haigh’s rural B&B.