Chef-proprietors Guy and Brittany Manning have brought skills honed at triple-Michelin-starred Per Se in Midtown Manhattan to this thatched gastropub on the edge of Salisbury Plain, with 'stupendous' food in the bar/restaurant and garden, and stylish guest bedrooms across the road, with decking from which to watch the ducks on the River Avon.

The fun, hip, relaxed ethos of this pub with exceptional-value rooms on the edge of the Fonthill Estate is evident from the minute you walk in the door. Guide insiders couldn't believe the buzz when they arrived at this 'comfy, characterful place' in the afternoon, long after lunch.

A lovely, wisteria-swagged, 17th-century Bath stone inn, this is a gastropub with a wide choice of characterful rooms, a serious attitude to food, regular comedy nights and an irrepressible sense of fun.

Rescued from closure by two local couples, this gastropub at the heart of a picturesque village has stylish bedrooms and cooking of a very high order.

'So much more than a pub with rooms', the Three Daggers has its own farm shop, brewery and spa barn with outdoor hot tub and sauna as well as a kiddies' playground.

The ancient stone-built Bath Arms in woodlands on the Longleat estate gets a big thumbs up from readers for its 'excellent, attentive and pleasant staff', 'appealing menus', real ales and great-value, well-decorated rooms.

On the Great Durnford Manor estate, where the great bustard has been reintroduced to Britain, this 19th-century boozer has been reinvented as a dining pub with locals bar, comfortable, contemporary rooms and a modern restaurant making exciting use of estate produce.

Built as lodgings for the now-ruined abbey, 'Britain's oldest inn', much altered over centuries and cherished by its Texan owners, has a wide choice of beautifully presented rooms and appealing dining options.

'A little bit of heaven,' writes a reader, of this hotel in parkland in Capability Brown parkland on the Lansdowne family estate, with pleasure grounds, arboretum, a fine-dining restaurant and picnics to order.

Still very much a village local, with four simple, tasteful bedrooms, this atmospheric 19th-century beamed pub, serving staples and more exciting dishes, has been given a new lease of life by the Chickpea Group.

Ideally situated beside Corsham Court at the heart of the village, this former coaching inn has smartly refurbished bedrooms, a friendly, casual ambience and a menu of pub classics and fancier dishes, using produce from the kitchen garden.

Rescued after languishing empty for seven years, this 18th-century part-thatched former tannery turned village ale house has been renovated in a style of rustic simplicity, with dog-friendly, unfussy bedrooms, a dining room serving a short menu of pub classics and more complex dishes, and a pleasant, leafy garden.

Everything is laid on for a fun, relaxing family escape at this dog-friendly Jacobean manor house, with a crèche, cinema, spa, pools indoors and out, playground, games room, comfy lounges, country-house bedrooms in the main house and cottages, and formal and informal dining.

Bags of character and a warm vibe are on offer at this pub with rooms on an organic farm in a pretty village on the Marlborough Downs.

Striking modern artworks adorn the clubby interiors of this idealised rustic-chic dining pub and locals bar in a village on the Duchy of Somerset's estate, where each bedroom has its own style, and menus of sophisticated pub fare showcase locally grown, farmed and foraged ingredients.

Centred on a Georgian farmhouse in Arts and Crafts ornamental gardens, with a spa, gym, cinema and contemporary bedrooms, this honeyed-stone luxury country-house hotel holds a Michelin star for Ricki Weston's inspired tasting menus in The Dining Room, while guests can dine more informally on small plates in Grey's, or from an all-day lounge menu.

A loyal following of guests returns time and again to this 17th-century house, with stone-mullioned windows in 'a lovely quiet location, with nice gardens'.

There is a simple elegance about this Georgian rectory, with uncluttered bedrooms, modern foodie menus served in dining room and glasshouse, an outdoor swimming pool in landscaped gardens, and pub grub for those who want it at sister venture the Potting Shed across the road.

Approached down a mile-long avenue of lime and beech trees, this grand Palladian mansion in 500 acres of parkland and gardens is a family friendly country-house hotel with spa, pools, an equestrian centre, luxury bedrooms, Michelin-starred menus in Restaurant Hywel Jones, and less formal dining in the Walled Garden Restaurant.

With Sunday roasts, local ales, beams, brasses and eclectic artworks, this is a traditional village boozer with a contemporary twist, smart but simple bedrooms, and a menu featuring greatest pub hits (burgers, bangers) as well as more modern dishes.

Popular with shooting parties, this extensively and charmingly refurbished Georgian inn has an eclectic choice of individually designed bedrooms, a bar with cheerful clutter of furniture and interesting art, menus of good pub grub and more inventive dishes, plus a pizza kitchen and dining space in a former saddle room.

In two adjacent buildings, dating from 1452 and 1538, Philip O'Shea's restaurant with rooms is in the heart of the historic market town.

Overlooking the River Avon, this early-18th-century cloth-dyer's house has been imaginatively converted into a relaxed, modern-day inn with a terrific choice of Nordic-influenced bedrooms, some in a 1960s extension, an industrial-chic bar, and a restaurant serving refined pub food.

A drive down country lanes brings you to Ben Maschler's thatched 14th-century inn, with log fires, oak beams and flagstones, which offers seriously good gastropub dishes, four simple but chic bedrooms, and the Nadder valley on the doorstep.

With 'a great setting in large grounds' and the 'huge plus' of an outdoor heated pool, this ornate Italianate Victorian house in woodland and gardens impressed our inspectors, who found it a 'very relaxed place'.