‘Such a peaceful, quiet place to stay. The log fire was lit ready for our arrival.’ A new endorsement this year for ‘perfect hosts’ David and Louise Farrance’s wisteria-festooned B&B.

‘Exquisitely refurbished.’ Peter McKay and Douglas Blain have cultivated ‘an oasis of civilisation’ within a decadent cluster of Soho’s Georgian houses.

‘In a pretty south Cotswolds village', this is a ‘fun, relaxing place’. A Palladian mansion with Arts and Crafts refinements and an Italianate logia, it was recently made over for the Calcot Collection.

‘A lovely, family-friendly hotel,’ was Guide inspectors' verdict on this 16th-century stone manor house with spa in beautiful grounds, ‘looking out over rolling hills’.

Amid its own grounds of lawn and woodland, on the shores of Loch Sunart, Sally and David Ruthven-Fox run a welcoming small hotel.

‘The situation, the view and interior are all marvellous,’ writes a reader this year, of Karen and David Richards’s ‘superb hotel’ (Relais & Château) right by the harbour wall in a fishing village on the Roseland peninsula.

Along a narrow lane, a lamb-chop toss from Smithfield market, Clerkenwell’s hubbub surrenders to the ‘club-like’ calm of Peter McKay and Douglas Blain’s tumble of 18th-century houses.

Hereford Castle is long gone, but ducks bob happily on the old moat beside the terraced garden of the Watkins family’s hotel.

Returning guests in 2018 ‘enjoyed a relaxing time in warmth and comfort’ at Tim Hart’s purpose-built hotel, on the former ramparts of Nottingham’s medieval castle.

‘We were looking forward to our stay,’ write Guide insiders, on returning to this classical Georgian mansion in ‘wonderful grounds’, rescued from ruin in the 1990s by Don and Wendy Matheson.

Henry VIII gave the manor of Barnsley to each wife in turn – the old romantic! – before it passed to the Bourchier family, who built this Cotswold stone house in the 1690s.

For ‘a quiet weekend in a friendly, characterful hotel among bucolic surroundings’, John and Sue Cushing’s red brick Georgian manor ‘fits the bill perfectly’.

Above the dene (ravine with a stream), surrounded by ‘attractive woodland’, sits Peter Candler’s ‘impressive’ 19th-century hotel.

It is as if a cruise liner had docked on the banks of Dorset’s Stour several years ago, to the sound of popping corks, and everyone liked it so much that they’d stayed.

A metamorphosis is underway on the edge of the New Forest: formerly TerraVina, this comfortable Victorian villa has a new name and a revamped style.

On the shores of Loch Ewe stands a ‘deceptively large’ 18th-century fishing lodge run as a ‘pleasingly eclectic guest house’ by the ‘very welcoming’ Harrison family.

Dee and Richard Slade’s hybrid of pub and hotel in the empty reaches of Northumberland again reached for the stars with its unique blend of sustainable hospitality and astronomy.

If you’re looking for a modestly priced hotel at the heart of the city, this is just the ticket – a modern B&B on the penthouse floor of a handsome, buff stone, 1900s office building, right by Central Station.

Near the RSPB Titchwell Marsh nature reserve, this dog- and family-friendly hotel is sandwiched between fields and ochre-hued marshland, leading down to the North Sea.

For 120 years the Grose family have looked after this family-friendly’ hotel approached by lanes ‘resplendent with wild flowers’.

There are diversions aplenty at this much-refurbished 17th-century former fishing lodge on a tranquil estate overlooking Kenmare bay and the Sheen waterfalls.

‘Such excellent attention to detail.’ Approached through ‘well-maintained grounds’, entered under a balustraded minstrel’s gallery, the Wiser family’s ‘superb’ Georgian manor is a ‘very grand’ affair.

‘Great Atlantic views’ and beach walks await at Antoin O’Looney’s ‘wonderfully hospitable’ small hotel.

In the buzzing heart of the city, opposite the Philharmonic Hall, a Venetian palazzo facade conceals this contemporary hotel, ‘ideally placed’ for discovering the wonderful history and architecture.