Behind the golden-stone facade of two mansions, at the centre of Bath’s magnificent Georgian crescent, lies a luxurious hotel with an oasis garden, spa and 12-metre pool.

Despite a change of ownership, this quintessential country house hotel in a peaceful Cumbrian village is still in safe hands, report readers.

Jeremy and Elizabeth Hosking’s beloved and beautiful Elizabethan manor house stands in glorious gardens, amid 1,000 acres of woodland.

The red kites that soar above the Cothi valley have a bird’s-eye view of Brechfa Forest – perfect for hiking and biking – and of this rustic 16th-century country house hotel on its margin, with the River Marlais running by.

This ‘epitome of Irish country house hospitality’ overlooks Galway Bay, in the dramatic Burren landscape, said to have been the inspiration for Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

On the doorstep of the Westonbirt Arboretum with 2,500 species of trees, and just round the corner from Highgrove, the Hare and Hounds sits in its own gardens and woodlands in a pretty corner of the Cotswolds.

Walk up a narrow lane between a kebab shop and a barber’s in this market town, on a sunny afternoon, and you may be surprised to find people enjoying tea on the lawn in front of a Palladian villa.

Tumbling down cliffs overlooking Falmouth Bay, Olga Polizzi’s glowing white Tresanton shows how to put style into a family-friendly seaside hotel – at a price.

The very model of an olde worlde inn, with its flagstones, beams, blazing fires and jumbled interiors, The Lamb sits on the edge of a picture-perfect Cotswolds wool town, in the aptly named Sheep Street.

In a ‘wonderful location’, with uninterrupted valley and fell views, this Edwardian country house is an elegant retreat for outdoors lovers who appreciate their creature comforts.

‘We felt as if we had been invited to stay with friends,’ says one reviewer of this welcoming B&B in the heart of Jane Eyre country.

There are lots of good things to report about this family-friendly spa hotel this year.

Lawns run down to the pool in sub-tropical gardens ‘which, with their climbing geraniums, are magnificent’ at this cliff-top hotel overlooking the esplanade.

The old rector was none other than the great-grandfather of Sally Searle, who, with husband Chris, welcomes guests to their loved and lived-in Victorian home.

Sandwiched between Snowdonia and the Menai estuary, this B&B in a converted granite cowshed celebrates both its Welsh heritage and its eco credentials.

While children let rip at sister hotel Bedruthan (previous entry), all is serene at the adults-only Scarlet, ‘perfectly located overlooking the beach and ocean’, with Ayurvedic-inspired spa and outdoor hot tubs.

Pitlochry’s renowned Festival Theatre was born in 1951 in the grounds of this Victorian mansion, run today as a welcoming hotel by Struan and Louise Lothian.

At an isolated crossroads with uninterrupted views across the border to the Scottish hills, this former coaching inn combines a wild rural feel with unexpected luxury.

Immortalised as ‘The Donnithorne Arms’ in George Eliot’s Adam Bede, this Victorian pub was boarded up before Johnny and Laura Greenall stepped in to save it.

‘Foodie heaven, with the bonus of nearby culture in Stratford-upon-Avon’, this restaurant added rooms in 2019 and is new to the Guide after an insider was bowled over by its ‘amazing value and fantastic meals’.

A ‘lovely’ walled garden gives a country house air to this small hotel in the heart of a historic market town.

‘Thoroughly dependable, yet stylish in an old-fashioned way’, this family-friendly hotel has been run with care by the Grose family for more than 120 years.

A wisteria-festooned arch frames the entry to this prettily refurbished hotel, forged from a row of 17th-century honey-hued houses.

In a woodland garden that stretches to the River Dee, this historic Victorian manor is today a sumptuous hotel rich in antiques and fine original features.