‘Whenever a special date crops up, we make a beeline for Gravetye and have never been disappointed.’ Guide stalwarts vouch for Jeremy and Elizabeth Hosking’s luxury country house hotel, an Elizabethan manor house (Relais & Châteaux), surrounded by woodland, with gardens laid out by William Robinson, exponent of the ‘wild’ garden style. Andrew Thomason is the consummate manager, his staff are ‘charm personified’. Bedrooms, some with a four-poster, some more contemporary, have many thoughtful touches – ‘home-made biscuits, bottled water, a jar of sweets, books, postcards, orchids, Noble Isle toiletries. . .’ Another trusted reader, who last year asked for kiwi fruit, this year found some ‘prepared and waiting in the fridge’. Downstairs, ‘a splendid log fire’ was burning in a panelled lounge. A new, glass-walled dining room brings the gardens inside. ‘Magician’ George Blogg holds a Michelin star for such creative offerings as ‘out-of-this-world mini-beetroot meringues, partridge several ways, perfectly cooked veal sweetbreads, strawberry and beetroot soufflé with liquorice ice cream’. Breakfast is ‘everything it should be’. (Francine and Ian Walsh, Bill Bennett)