Olga Polizzi's beautifully styled Georgian fishing lodge, built for the Duke of Bedford and scandalous Duchess Georgiana, stands in a picturesque designed landscape with the River Tamar running through.

In an idyllic location, cascading down the cliffs at St Mawes with views to St Anthony's lighthouse, Olga Polizzi's seaside hotel continues to delight readers. Once home to a yacht club, it is spread across a cluster of houses and has a feel of the French Riviera about it.

With views to the sea across a Regency square, this townhouse hotel, which is the flagship of a small, privately owned chain, has a hip, bohemian vibe, bedrooms with bare brick walls, retro and reclaimed pieces, and a café-bar and lounge.

Agatha Christie memorabilia, murder-mystery weekends and Art Deco touches set the tone at Hugh and Emma Asher's creeper-clad hotel, former home of the author's doctor friends, in a bustling market town.

Chef-proprietors Guy and Brittany Manning have brought skills honed at triple-Michelin-starred Per Se in Midtown Manhattan to this thatched gastropub on the edge of Salisbury Plain, with 'stupendous' food in the bar/restaurant and garden, and stylish guest bedrooms across the road, with decking from which to watch the ducks on the River Avon.

Guests' happiness is paramount for host John Edward Joyce at his characterful, eclectically furnished country house with charming bedrooms and exquisite but unstuffy fine dining in the Mustard Seed restaurant.

Indulge in a Porn Star Martini in the sea-facing cocktail bar at this stuccoed, bow-fronted Georgian seafront hotel, for this is Brighton, after all – hip, tolerant and fun.

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.

The Buchanan family's 16th-century coaching inn offers a warm Yorkshire mix of traditional pub, smart food and modern bedrooms with character. Overlooking the market square, it's a popular locals' spot both for the ales in the fire-warmed bar and snug and the accomplished cooking.

Modern mixes with medieval on the ramparts of what remains of Nottingham Castle, with this sleek hotel the perfect place to escape the bustling city.

Roses festoon this family and dog-friendly 17th-century pub with rooms, in a thriving village close to the RSPB's Snettisham Nature Reserve.

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.

Birdwatchers and bon vivants beat a path to Tracy and Galton Blackiston's Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms in a flint farmhouse with Blakeney nature reserve on the doorstep.

A beautifully proportioned Queen Anne-style mansion overlooking a duck pond, this much-loved traditional hotel has a new owner, but, after 48 years, Baba Hine remains, overseeing restaurant, bistro and well-equipped, spacious bedrooms.

It's been more than 20 years since Susannah and Stuart Macpherson opened the doors of this beautiful Georgian building to guests, and they still take great pride in providing a friendly, warm welcome along with good food and wine.

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.

You can imagine nodding off in an armchair over the latest issue of Samuel Johnson's Idler, or William Hazlitt's polemics in the Tatler, when you step into this time-warp hotel and close the door on trendy Soho. It was here, on a Georgian terrace in the 1820s, that essayist Hazlitt penned his valediction, and antiques and furnishings keep faith with a bygone age.

An Edwardian homage to 17th-century style, this beautiful manor house with rich Jacobean-inspired interiors is run as a luxury hotel with fine-dining restaurant where you can enjoy a 'truly memorable meal'.

Following a stunning redesign, this family-friendly, luxury New Forest hotel and spa continues to set the standard for country-house comfort, romance, fun and superb food.

With the feel of a private club rather than a hotel, this beautifully restored Georgian property lies behind the 18th-century facade of three shop-houses in a once-notorious area that is now filled with hip eateries and bars.

Caroline and Jonathan Kaye are fun and welcoming hosts at their B&B, a Victorian gentleman's residence in walled garden, praised by many readers for its award-winning interiors, individually styled rooms and suites, delicious afternoon tea and great breakfasts.

With peacocks in the garden, kilt-wearing staff, fire-warmed sitting rooms and antiques at every turn, this 17th-century country house is an indulgent place to stay.

Everything is peachy at this apricot-hued Georgian country house in the Vale of Belvoir, at the end of a long avenue of lime trees, transformed from a family home into a delightful, idiosyncratic and much-loved hotel.

If you're looking for affordable luxury, this Victorian mansion in parkland, remodelled in the style of a French château, has spacious bedrooms, opulent suites, and a choice of small-plates dining or a tasting menu.

With chic bedrooms in the main pub and coach house, and Scandi-style bedrooms in a new-built annexe, this dog-friendly Victorian former boozer is the Chestnut Group's founding venture, a proper pub with locals bar and a restaurant serving classics alongside more imaginative dishes.

A tree-lined drive leads to this splendid Victorian Scottish baronial pile and luxury hotel in landscaped grounds, where guests have a choice of opulent suites, and can opt to dine from tasting menus in the dining room looking out to Ailsa Craig or on home-grown produce in a 19th-century glasshouse within the walled kitchen garden.

Old-world atmosphere and contemporary comforts are in perfect balance at Jeremy Mogford's 17th-century stone country house in the city, handy for all that Oxford has to offer, and with an eclectic art collection, intimate restaurant, walled dining terrace, and immaculate bedrooms, some with outdoor space.

With a waterside terrace above the Fal estuary, David and Karen Richards' Edwardian hotel on the Roseland Peninsual has 19 coastal-chic bedrooms, most with a sea view, while in the restaurant menus are big on fish and seafood delivered by the hotel's dedicated fisherman.

There's a wealth of olde worlde character at this 17th-century thatched village inn, with oak beams, flagged floors, real fires and ales, smart contemporary bedrooms in a purpose-built 'barn', exciting gastropub cooking, and wood-fired pizzas in summer in the garden.

A 14th-century clergy house is home to this hotel, with bright, individually styled bedrooms, and a restaurant serving steaks and burgers as well as highly creative dishes, using locally sourced and home-grown produce.