‘We felt we were staying at a grand house rather than a hotel,’ say regular Guide correspondents this year of Charles Lowther and his family’s Grade I listed ancestral home, built around a medieval pele tower and brimming with the owners’ personality. A return visit found it ‘as good as ever’. There’s a ‘shabby-chic feel’ in the public rooms: allow for ‘the odd frayed carpet or torn lampshade’, and relax by the log fire with a drink from the honesty bar. Every one of the ‘comfortable’ country house-style bedrooms is different: choose one with a four-poster bed and an antique bath, or something more modern. The largest rooms, in the tower, have views over garden, river and fells. In the conservatory dining room, Richard Swale cooks with produce from gardens, farm and forest, plus game in season. A typical dish: Rough Fell lamb, barbecue offal kebab, ewe’s curd, wild garlic risotto. ‘The food is excellent, and the staff are friendly and attentive.’ The Grade II listed gardens, with terraces, topiary, ponds and woodland, and the Kitchen Garden Café are open to the public. Follow a trail to watch rare breed pigs, boer goats, chickens and ducks go about their day. (Kay and John Patterson)