‘A wonderful reminder of the delight a well-run, imaginative hotel can offer,’ reads one of many good reports of this family-friendly hotel with shimmering vistas over estuary and salt marsh.

In a quiet corner of Cumbria, close to Hadrian’s Wall, this long-established hotel exudes the traditional comforts of a country house but with a modern elegance.

Ducks glide on a pond and guests take tea in front of this beautifully proportioned Queen Anne-style mansion in a hamlet between the Cotswolds and the Mendip hills.

Deep in the Sussex countryside, a romantic Elizabethan manor house, built by an ironmaster for his bride, stands amid 1,000 acres of historically important gardens, pleasure grounds and woodland.

Staying in this Georgian mansion in ‘flower-filled and perfectly tended gardens’ is 'a pretty faultless experience', with 'every detail properly attended to but the atmosphere still friendly and relaxed', say readers.

The Gloriana of Robin Hutson’s Pig hotel collection (see index), this Grade I listed Elizabethan beauty stands in 'wonderful grounds in a special location' in the peaceful Otter valley.

‘There is a timeless elegance to Raymond Blanc’s gorgeous country house hotel, where English–French relations reach a deliciously stylish entente cordiale,’ say Guide insiders.

Cranes, container ships, Holland-bound ferries . . . The views from this quayside Victorian hotel with its striking iron-lace balcony overlooking the Stour and Orwell estuaries, are ocean-going, stirring, never dull.

With tall chimneys, multiple gables, vast mullioned windows and sprawling terraces this Yorkshire country house is the real deal, but with a delightfully friendly touch.

A 'playful, quirky hotel', in a traditional honey-stone building, Homewood is 'full of eclectic eccentricity'.

If you can't get enough of the freshest of seafood at this restaurant-with-rooms, you can learn to prepare your own lobster for grilling and the perfect hollandaise sauce at Rick Stein's cookery school across the road.

‘A very nice hotel with its own private beach, secluded and quiet,’ writes a reader of this cliff-top hotel in gardens overlooking Gerrans Bay.

Guide readers are unswervingly loyal to this family-friendly country house by the sea, with peerless views to Snowdonia across Cardigan Bay, run by the Fletcher-Brewer family since opening in 1948.

A dream destination for golfing gourmets, Geoffrey and Katherine Smeddle’s restaurant-with-rooms offers Michelin-starred cooking just a 12-minute drive from St Andrews.

'Very quiet and peaceful' on the shores of Loch Sunart, this family-friendly and dog-friendly country house has an 'exceptional location'.

It may not be a castle but this rambling 18th-century manor house, wrapped in gardens and with views over the otherworldly karst landscape of the Burren, has its own romantic charm.

Pass the little gate lodge to drive up to this bay-fronted country house in wooded grounds edged by a beach on Lough Swilly.

‘We enjoyed a walk in the extensive grounds with the hotel’s biodiversity champion,’ write readers on a visit to this legendary Irish country house hotel that is passionate about locally sourced food.

Roses ramble over honey stone and wisteria cascades around stone mullioned casements at this Cotswolds country house hotel, with spa, gym, cinema and ‘luxury’ written all over it.

Perfectly placed next to Westonbirt National Arboretum, this Victorian Cotswold stone hotel offers a relaxed family- and dog-friendly break.

In a small rural village in the White Peak area, this Grade II* listed 17th-century country house is run as a hotel with warmth and heart.

With peacocks in the garden, kilt-wearing staff, fire-warmed sitting rooms and antiques at every turn, this 17th-century country house is an indulgent experience.

‘A stunning Georgian building with wonderful grounds’, this 1820s mansion has been run as a hotel by ‘lovely, friendly’ hosts Susannah and Stuart Macpherson since 2003.

With views over Esthwaite Water, a friendly welcome and high-quality home-cooked food, this hotel ticks all the boxes for ‘a warm, comfortable, traditional, country house hotel’.

‘A stone’s throw from everything Oxford has to offer’, Jeremy Mogford’s second hotel (see preceding entry) impressed our inspectors with its ‘peaceful, classy vibe’.

‘You feel as though you’re on the French Riviera’ at Olga Polizzi’s seaside hotel ‘in one of the most idyllic locations you could hope to come across’.

With its indulgent bedrooms, Michelin-starred dining, attentive staff and guaranteed privacy, many look to Gilpin as the ultimate in Lakeland luxury.

In an isolated hamlet on the edge of Exmoor national park, where hog-backed cliffs tower above the Bristol Channel, this hotel in a 16th-century-cum-Georgian rectory 'goes from strength to strength'.

In a picturesque Cotswold town, an 18th-century inn contrived from a row of 15th-century weavers’ cottages has been gently shepherded into the 21st century.

Well-being is at the heart of this ‘rather lovely boutique hotel’, a reinvented 16th-century coaching inn, where guests enjoy nature walks, yoga and the run of Castle Ashby's pleasure grounds.

Deep in Thomas Hardy country, this picture-perfect thatched cottage is a popular restaurant-with-rooms run with great charm by Ariane and her husband, Jamie.

Many regard Borrowdale as the Lake District’s most picturesque valley, and this comfortable Edwardian country house has one of its finest locations.

With walks from the doorstep, views of Peak District hills, a peaceful garden, breakfast feasts and restful bedrooms, it’s no surprise that Underleigh wins so much praise.

Agatha Christie memorabilia, murder mystery weekends and Art Deco touches set the tone at this creeper-clad hotel, former home of doctor friends of Christie, in a bustling market town.

With an enviable position on Windermere, this Georgian hall has a relaxed country house style, a choice of dining and bedrooms ranging from family-friendly to seriously swanky.

In the north of Skye, overlooking Loch Dunvegan, this whitewashed former crofter’s house with its distinctive three chimneys is the unlikely setting for a celebrated restaurant-with-rooms.

Jeremy Mogford’s conversion of the old Barclays Bank gets credit from a Guide insider for its 'brilliant location, right in the city centre'.

The Buchanan family’s 16th-century coaching inn offers a warm Yorkshire mix of traditional pub, smart food and modern bedrooms with character.

Afternoon tea in the conservatory or on the terrace overlooking sub-tropical gardens is one of many highlights of this venerable Victorian hotel whose legions of loyal guests book their favourite room year after year.

Pigs have foraged in the New Forest since the Norman Conquest, but a different breed arrived in 2011, when Robin Hutson took on a Georgian hunting lodge and reinvented the English country house hotel.