There is star quality indeed at Olga and Alex Polizzi's updated version of a historic Tudor inn, in a charming medieval South Downs village.

A New Forest bolt-hole, this country house hotel has an easy glamour, romantic and family-friendly rooms, heart-warming Italian food and top-notch spa.

For 40 years, Raymond Blanc has held two Michelin stars at this beautiful country-house hotel 'and it's not surprising – every mouthful of every meal is a triumph', say Guide insiders.

East Coast America meets South Coast England at this single-storey, coastal-chic hotel with interesting room choices, good, locally sourced food, and uncrowded sandy beach just over the spectacular dunes.

Amid 1,000 acres of historically important gardens, pleasure grounds and woodland, this romantic Elizabethan manor house, built by an ironmaster for his bride, forms an impressive backdrop for Michelin-starred cuisine.

'A really nice place to stay, in a lovely quiet village setting,' this beautifully renovated 17th-century thatched inn lives anew as a local pub with rooms. Manager Claire Lenkowiec and chef Valerio Grimaldi-Plant run the show for the owners and, by George, they get it right!

History meets the modern world at this Elizabethan manor house, a luxury e hotel in eight acre-grounds, with gracious drawing room, state-of-the-art spa and fine-dining restaurant.

This former coaching inn is now an equestrian-themed gastropub and restaurant, with affordable boutique bedrooms spread across four annexe buildings.

A fine base for exploring the Chilterns, this urbane hotel is just outside a picturesque riverside village near historic houses and vineyards.

This quintessential English country house with spa, pools, kids' club, elegant bedrooms and fun tree houses, hits all the right luxurious notes for a romantic or family stay.

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.

A Regency mansion in parkland, once home to Percy Shelley's mother, has been reimagined as a contemporary country house hotel infused with a blithe spirit.

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

In gardens bordered by a stream, the Wild family's hotel, converted from three 17th-century cottages, a stroll from its own quayside, has well-equipped, country-classic bedrooms, formal and informal dining in restaurant and brasserie.

'A stone's throw from everything Oxford has to offer', Jeremy Mogford's second hotel (see the Old Bank) impressed our inspectors with its 'peaceful, classy vibe'.

One of Britain's prettiest disused stations is today an excellent B&B, with bedrooms in the station building and restored Pullman coaches, cream teas served in the waiting room or on the platform, while breakfast is truly first class.

This little piggy, the babe in the litter of Robin Hutson's Pig hotels, is set in a crenellated Georgian house and former pub built into the city's medieval wall.

'The perfect restaurant-with-rooms for lovers of British bubbles', this recent addition to Robin Hutson's Pig litter is surrounded by some of Britain's best wine-making country and offers 'plenty of fizz with your food'.

In 'a lovely location', with riverside terraces, and Hampton Court across the road, the flagship venture for Hector Ross's Signet Collection received our inspectors' endorsement.

Redolent of its sometimes racy past, this veritable palazzo, designed by Sir Charles Barry in 1850 for the Duke of Sutherland, sits in National Trust pleasure grounds above the Thames.

Olde worlde charm is mixed with contemporary comforts, traditional Sunday roasts and pub classics with modern British dishes, at this Cotswold-stone inn, contrived from a row of 15th-century weavers' cottages.

A 16th-century village inn has been reinvented as a fun, bohemian hangout, with rustic-chic bedrooms, upcycled furniture, modern artworks, good pub grub and an irrepressible sense of fun.

Once a retreat for Lord Beaverbrook, this Victorian mansion, filled with fascinating memorabilia, is home to chic contemporary bedrooms, a fine-dining restaurant, Japanese grill, library, cinema and spa.

In 2013, Carole Bamford acquired the wisteria-draped, Cotswold stone, 18th-century Tollgate Inn and took it back to the bones, before complete refurbishment,

Charles II might not recognise his old royal hunting lodge today but, as the father of at least 11 children and a great lover of his spaniels, the Merry Monarch would enjoy the dog-friendly, inclusive ethos.

'It would be beautiful in summer,' said our inspectors, whose tour of this vineyard, on the slopes of the South Downs, was marred by rain.

A Victorian house on the Sissinghurst estate is home to this 'good-value B&B in a perfect location' for a visit the iconic English gardens laid out in the 1930s by Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson.

In restored Grade I listed woodland and lake gardens, an Italianate mansion is now home to a Michelin-starred restaurant with serenely beautiful bedrooms.

This baronial-style Victorian manor house overlooking a deer park in the New Forest has been stylishly updated as an adults-only retreat with a well-regarded restaurant.