Behind the golden-stone facade of two mansions, at the centre of Bath’s magnificent Georgian crescent, lies a luxurious hotel with an oasis garden, spa and 12-metre pool.

An ancient, honey-stone priest’s house turned hotel in a pretty market town has been given a chic make-over as a restaurant-with-rooms.

Pink without and peachy within, this Queen Anne-style mansion, in a rural hamlet with views to the Malvern hills, has been owned by the Hine family since 1978.

The Empress of Blandings among Robin Hutson’s Pig hotels (see index), this honey-stone Elizabethan manor house in the Otter valley is reached by a mile-long carriage drive.

In one of England’s most perfect medieval villages, this timber-framed house may show the world a handsome Georgian face but within, it is all beams and slanted ceilings.

There is an outdoorsy, tally-ho vibe about Charles Bowman’s rural inn on the banks of the River Hodder, with views to the Forest of Bowland.

‘I would love to keep it to myself, but I thought I should share the good news.

A dazzling array of hanging baskets bedecks this friendly pub-with-rooms, occupying three former miners’ cottages in a Chew valley hamlet.

On the doorstep of the Westonbirt Arboretum with 2,500 species of trees, and just round the corner from Highgrove, the Hare and Hounds sits in its own gardens and woodlands in a pretty corner of the Cotswolds.

Wrapped in parkland, this gleaming white country house that is only ten minutes from the city centre takes luxury to hedonistic levels, with lavish decorations and indulgent service.

Blending 12th-century stone origins with 21st-century country-inn comforts, plus robust food, this handsome hotel attracts walkers and weekenders.

Tumbling down cliffs overlooking Falmouth Bay, Olga Polizzi’s glowing white Tresanton shows how to put style into a family-friendly seaside hotel – at a price.

Ferries no longer skim across Loch Glendhu to Kylestrome, but you can still watch the day’s catch being landed on the slipway, from Tanja Lister and Sonia Virechauveix’s 17th-century coaching inn turned award-winning hotel.

In a thriving village of gaily painted and ancient black-and-white houses, this hotel is set in a 15th-century merchant’s house-turned-coaching inn.

Overlooking the green in a Cotswolds village, and decked with hanging baskets, this pretty pub-with-rooms was in the doldrums before two local families took it on and spruced it up.

On the edge of the North Yorkshire moors, this postcard-perfect thatched village pub continues to delight with its Michelin-starred cooking and quirky bedrooms.

Dogs love this dining-pub-with-rooms, between the Black mountains and the Brecon Beacons, as much as their two-legged friends do.

What could be lovelier than to take breakfast on the terrace of Malcolm Herring’s small hotel, gazing over the harbour, or to sip a Blue Hayes Colada at sunset? This is an exclusive place (no dogs, no tiny tots, no walk-ins), done out in seaside blues and creams, with the garden gate leading to the Coast Path and Porthminster Beach.

Tables are set for some seriously good dining at Andrew and Gaynor Riley’s restaurant-with-rooms, occupying the former showroom of Sir Gordon Russell, wartime pioneer of utility furniture, in a picture-postcard Cotswold village.

In the heart of the South Downs national park, this 18th-century inn is a well-judged mix of friendly local and restaurant-with-rooms.

You get the best of both worlds here: although it’s in the city suburbs just a ten-minute drive from the centre, Jesmond Dene House, named after the lush wooded valley it overlooks, ‘feels as if it’s in the country’.

In a quietly beautiful area of the Lake District – the lovely Lyth valley – this smart village inn has a deserved reputation for good food and cosseting bedrooms.

You drive over moors on a near-deserted road to reach Charles and Edmund Inkin’s relaxed, informal dining-pub-with-rooms on Cornwall’s Atlantic coast.

The panoramic views of Saundersfoot harbour and the coastline from this modern hotel above Carmarthen Bay are ‘exceptional’ – and the inward calm that washes over guests in the award-winning spa isn’t bad, either.