Protected from the border’s lawless raiders by a 16th-century ‘bastle’, Elaine Packer’s ‘superb’ Georgian farmhouse overlooking Hadrian’s Wall is full of ‘every comfort’.

In the once lawless Debatable Lands, Gerald and Margo Smith have brought order to a former coaching inn-turned-contemporary hotel.

Formed from an 18th-century farmstead, Dee and Richard Slade’s hybrid of pub and hotel in the empty reaches of Northumberland is liked for its unique blend of sustainable hospitality, ‘beautiful grounds’ and ‘amazing dark sky observatory’.

‘This will become our stop-over of choice on the way to west Scotland.’ A full entry this year for Alison and Andi Sambrook's ‘small, unpretentious hotel’ opposite the green in a village bypassed by the A66.

‘The warm welcome, beautiful setting and delicious food’ are ‘truly exceptional’ at Charles Lowther’s battlemented ancestral pile.

‘Absolutely fantastic,’ Kathryn and Stuart Dobson’s large Victorian manor house in the heart of Weardale is decorated in fine style.

You can drink champagne in the vaulted bar, as W H Auden did, dine among the ancient stone walls like Philip Larkin, or sleep in a tranquil room once used by Benjamin Britten, at this hotel in the monastic buildings of a dissolved abbey.