A Georgian house in extensive grounds near the Lagan river, John and Louise Mathers’s ‘first-rate’ guest house is an ‘outstanding’ place to stay.

A short stroll from the world’s oldest distillery, this amiable 17th-century coaching inn on the Causeway Coastal Route is an eclectic jumble of ancient and modern.

Standing in deepest Seamus Heaney country, Eugene and Gerardine Kielt’s elegant B&B is a haven for fans of the late Nobel prize-winning poet and playwright.

Liked for its laid-back, village-hub atmosphere, Peter and Caroline McErlean’s lively 200-year-old inn is in a conservation area on the shores of Strangford Lough.

A cushion of mature trees surrounds Bob Isles’s ‘exemplary’ B&B, a gentle buffer against the sound of the waves and birds that visit sandy Whitepark Bay.

Set back from the centre, this handsomely restored red-brick B&B is within easy reach of popular restaurants and independent shops, and a leafy park.

Mary Callan provides a good-value base for the university at her Victorian guest house in a leafy residential suburb near the city centre.

A 17th-century baronial pile, ‘charmingly located’ on the scenic Antrim Coast Road. has received a 21st-century update.