‘A near-faultless stay.’ In a ‘great’ location – ‘so easily reached from the centre, yet so quiet’ – Laurence and Helen Beere’s ‘excellent’ hotel continues to please guests with its ‘personable, efficient’ staff, ‘delicious’ food and ‘generously sized’ rooms.

‘A nice welcome’ and ‘an excellent dinner’ await at this ‘very pleasant place’, a stone-built former priests’ house by the River Brit, deep in Thomas Hardy’s Wessex.

A ‘friendly’ welcome awaits at Louise and David Farrance’s ‘peaceful’ B&B, in a 15th-century farmhouse along a country lane.

Parents ‘sleep like babies’ at this ‘fantastic’ family-friendly hotel, a Jacobean manor house in ‘glorious’ countryside.

‘Utterly peaceful’, with ‘fabulous views’ of the hidden Heddon valley, Mark and Pat Cowell’s ‘unpretentious’ hotel ‘brings back the feel of country living’.

Rick and Jill Stein’s original venture, a small seafood bistro with red-checked tablecloths, is now a ‘first-division’ restaurant-with-rooms, a short walk from the centre of this busy fishing port.

‘A poetic setting of beach and sea and garden.’ An ‘abundance of calm’ settles upon this smart seaside hotel, thanks to the ‘very hands-on’ owners, Paul and Fiona Robinson, and their well-trained staff.

An ancestral home today under the care of three members of the Prideaux-Brune family, this Dorset-stone 17th-century country house has been a hotel since 1972.

There are, ‘quite literally’, fairies at the bottom of the garden at Teresa and Kevin O’Sullivan’s ‘friendly’ cliff-top hotel, on a ‘remote’ country road ‘with spectacular views of the sea’.

‘Delightful’ riverside gardens, ‘stunning’ views, ‘excellent’ meals and an ‘exceptionally friendly’ atmosphere keep guests returning to this well-loved country hotel in a former 16th-century priory.

Tap into ‘friendly efficiency’ at this well-liked inn: Guide readers returning this year tell us ‘it was better than ever’.

In an ‘excellent’ spot overlooking the beach, this post-war fun palace is ‘a winning choice for families with young children’, says a recent guest.

‘What a fab place,’ say Guide inspectors in 2016, who arrived on a jolly quiz night at Sue Burdge’s ‘wonderful’ village pub-with-rooms.

Arrive by sea tractor (‘an experience in itself’) to fully appreciate this ‘amazing’ Grade II listed hotel – an ‘Art Deco tour de force’, and a dreamlike tribute to the now-faded glamour of the 1930s.

In an ‘unspoilt’ rural village close to the River Nadder, this old stone house seems made for lazy days and unhurried evenings.

Atop a steep hill, a higgledy-piggledy path leads to this cluster of houses forming a ‘faultless’ hotel whose panoramic views reach across Falmouth Bay towards St Anthony’s lighthouse.

‘Huw Rees and Sam Prosser, two perfectionists, have created a great place where every guest feels very welcome,’ say visitors this year, of this ‘beautiful’ small hotel close to the Exmoor coast.

‘What a difference the details make!’ Regular Guide contributors agree, finding service at Peter Wharton’s traditional hotel ‘consistently excellent’.

‘Excellent’ hosts Tim and Anne Riley are the heart of this small hotel, in a village on the Exmoor coast.

‘Comfortable’ cottage-style bedrooms, ‘first-class’ food, ‘friendly, efficient, helpful’ staff and a ‘cosy’ atmosphere combine to form one ‘lovely little hotel’, say ‘delighted’ guests, many of whom become regulars.

‘I cannot fault this B&B in any way,’ writes a first-time visitor in 2016.

Turn down a wooded track and keep going (‘you’ll think you’ve gone too far, but it’s a little bit further’): at the end is a rustic B&B where sparkling wine, home-made truffles and Maureen Rowlatt’s ‘charming’ hospitality await.

With pools, family films, play facilities, a crèche and an early-morning breakfast club, the kids are all right at this Georgian manor house in ‘beautiful’ countryside.

‘Caring, friendly’ hosts Penny and Kit Noble run their homely guest house in a former sea captain’s home, in a ‘stunning location’ overlooking the Dart estuary.