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.

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.

You can relax on a terrace beside the River Stour to the sound of lapping waves and popping corks at this streamlined, nautical-themed luxury hotel, spa and popular wedding venue.

There is a fairy-tale aspect with more than a hint of Hogwarts to this 1820s marine villa with a sandy beach at the bottom of the garden in a village that inspired Noddy's Toy Town.

A playful mix of Edward Hopper’s Cape Cod and Edwardian seaside hotel, this white-painted villa above Chesil Beach has an easy-going stylishness, conducive to fun.

Built of stone from the Purbeck hills, this 200-year-old house on the edge of the village stands in formal gardens (floodlit at night).

Within strolling distance of the town and the beach, a ‘friendly’, and eco-friendly, hotel in a handsome Victorian clifftop villa.

‘As a family we have said we need to try to visit once a year at least,’ write readers after a visit to this child-friendly, dog-friendly hotel occupying a Georgian manor house above Chesil Beach.