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.

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

Lakeland luxury at its finest comes courtesy of Gilpin, with its Michelin-starred dining, private hot tubs in the majority of its indulgent rooms and attentive staff. Its flagship rooms are extravagantly large glass-cube spa suites that extend over a pond and offer private garden, spa room and circular bath.

The humble setting of this former coaching inn, half a mile from the Scottish border, belies its chic bedrooms and creative cooking.

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.

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.

There is a ‘wonderful peaceful and calm feeling’ about this boutique hotel in a Victorian gothic gentleman’s residence close to Windermere’s town centre with a bus stop right outside and 'first-class service'.

Away from the crowds but close to good walking in the Ribble valley, this traditional coaching inn, refurbished in style, is both friendly village local and foodie hotspot, with impressive and glamorous bedrooms, onsite microbrewery, fine-dining and tasting-menus in the restaurant, pub classics and light bites at lunch.

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.

A 'sprawling, traditional building in a beautiful setting' at the tip of Windermere, this family and dog-friendly hotel has easy access to lake-based activities as well as a spa.

With the arrival of Michelin-starred chef Hrishikesh Desai, this smart country house hotel in beautiful, leafy grounds has become a top foodie destination.

Book well ahead to stay at this luxury restaurant-with-rooms, in a centuries-old hall, where reverence for terroir, traceability and sustainability are at the heart of Mark Birchall's modern cuisine.

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

This stylish South Shore B&B has a boutique-hotel feel with treats and state-of-the-art music systems in bedrooms.

In the centre of a pleasant town, famous for its Anglo-Saxon crosses, this revitalised 19th-century inn with an 'informal atmosphere' is a popular gathering point.

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.

Beyond its imposing colonnade and Tudor revival upper storeys, this grand Victorian hotel balances superb service with friendliness, traditionally styled with more contemporary rooms, brasserie fare with refined dining.

The River Eden loops past this red-sandstone mansion, topped with a cupola, on a wooded estate.