To find a gem in a quiet corner of the visitor-thronged Lake District is not easy, but this smart village inn in the lovely Lyth valley offers 'top-notch food', 'great service' and country-style bedrooms.

Refreshingly different from some more traditional Lake District offerings, this contemporary hotel is in a beautiful setting overlooking Grasmere.

A Regency beauty with spectacular views from the balconies, this stylish, dog-friendly country house hotel has a relaxed vibe, beautifully designed bedrooms, and a fine-dining restaurant.

With its towers and battlements this Victorian-folly castle, in 15 acres of grounds, looks imposing yet 'you actually feel like it is your castle'.

Banish images of fast-food outlets and slot machines when you break your journey at Tebay on wild and woolly Shap Fell, 60 miles from the Scottish border.

With smartly refurbished interiors and imaginative, locally sourced, restaurant-quality food, this dog-friendly country inn on the Lowther Estate is a happy mix of pub informality and country-house comforts.

Occupying a Georgian house and new annexe wings with private shorefront on Ullswater, this is an entirely child-friendly, dog-friendly 'lifestyle' hotel for those who love the great outdoors.

Outside Grasmere's village centre, this period property boasts original Victorian features alongside boutique features in the bedrooms.

A relaxing base in the rugged Western Lake District, Faith and Stephen Newell's fantastically secluded B&B is sleekly designed, and has many modern comforts.

Against a backdrop of Lyzzick Wood, from its vantage on the lower slopes of Skiddaw, this Victorian gentleman's residence, once home to naturalist and cartographer Joseph Flintoft, has simply glorious fell views.