With distant views to the Orkney Islands, and with the ferry just half a mile away, this unusual, eco-friendly, dog-friendly B&B is perfect for guests who want space, privacy and imaginative food morning and evening.

A formerly run-down pub at the top of the hill overlooking the harbour, this refurbished dining pub with stylish, highly characterful and generously equipped bedrooms, retains the fun and energy of a popular local, while serving seriously impressive, locally sourced food.

Life is attuned to nature at this country-house hotel in a Georgian mansion on a working estate. with walled garden, biodynamic farm, luxury spa, and two restaurants that celebrate seasonality and provenance.

Leave the fuss and fret of the AI(M) at Scotch Corner to reconnect with the land at this idyllic hotel, centred on a Georgian coach house amid gardens, parkland and woodland.

Within a Georgian house in a trendy corner of East London once home to Huguenot silk weavers, Peter McKay and Douglas Blain set out to weave a fantasy of their own.

In the heart of the Gloucestershire countryside, this one-time Saxon hunting lodge, rebuilt over centuries and rich in Tudor detail, is an intimate B&B, with large and characterful bedrooms, welcoming hosts, and a Cordon Bleu dinner cooked by arrangement on Fridays and Saturdays.

Fiona and Richard Trevor are perfect hands-on hosts at this former manse with breathtaking views across Badcall Bay to Assynt, immaculate, comfortable bedrooms, imaginative cooking and a truly warm, hospitable vibe.

The catch of the day could be Shetland hake in the restaurant or nifty fielding on the sands at this pub-with-rooms overlooking the Firth of Forth, with its own beach cricket team.

A beacon of hospitality on a remote cliff-top between the English Channel and the rolling downs, this decommissioned 19th-century lighthouse found new purpose in 2010 as a unique B&B. It offers superb 360-degree views from the lantern room, taking in the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs and the South Downs.

Amid 1,000 acres of historically important gardens, pleasure grounds and woodland, this romantic Elizabethan manor house, built by an ironmaster for his bride, forms an impressive backdrop for Michelin-starred cuisine.

Huddled below wooded hills, beside a stone bridge over the River Monnow, this whitewashed former 17th-century coaching inn serves delicious food and has great walks from the door to help you justify eating it.

With the sea to the fore and Tennyson Down rising up behind, this hotel has spectacular views and scarcely less impressive cooking in the revamped restaurant.

Hidden in a back street of Padstow's old town, these sybaritic B&B suites, created by chef Paul Ainsworth and his wife, are an ideal retreat for foodies.

With its bright yellow front door and rhubarb-pink sitting room, this Georgian townhouse with cottages, restaurant in the adjacent ironmonger's and a courtyard garden masterminded by garden designer Penelope Hobhouse is both classic and chic.

Anne Boleyn's childhood home, reimagined by William Waldorf Astor as a fairytale moated castle, stands in landscaped grounds with an Edwardian 'Tudor' village, home to this exceptional B&B.

There is a happy sense of continuity at this classic Georgian country house, where sixth-generation owners Louise and John Mathers have been welcoming guests since 2005.

There is a wide choice of generously equipped rooms at this substantial, dog friendly, family-friendly hotel on the edge of the Burghley Estate, with a pleasantly informal ambience and imaginative, seasonally inspired food served in the bistro.

Named in honour of Shrewsbury's famous son, this Grade II* listed Sandford House, moments from the Severn towpath, has evolved into a B&B full of Darwin references, with animal and plant wallpapers, maps and natural history objets.

Step inside a red-brick corner house in a yachting town on the edge of the New Forest, to find an idiosyncratic B&B, imbued with the generosity and personality of Tobias Feikle, perfect host and breakfast chef extraordinaire.

With porte cochère, crenellated tower and fine Victorian interiors, this country house overlooking Loch Portree is redolent of the history of the Macdonald family, who have lived there for more than 200 years.

Country-house luxury abounds at this child-friendly, dog-friendly hotel, a Georgian mansion in ‘well-maintained gardens a huge joy to visit’.

There is great food and serious fun to be had at this clifftop hotel on the South West Coast Path, its interiors filled with whimsical touches, its bedrooms all unique, its subtropical gardens a wonderland of witty sculptures.

Within a medieval castle and Georgian house above the Sound of Mull, this remote restaurant with rooms has four fantastic suites, spectacular views, and no less memorable cooking by chef-proprietor Colin Nicholson.

A fourth venture for Justin and Charlotte Salisbury, this 16th-century beamed farmhouse-cum-local, a former haunt of Dylan Thomas's, has a range of highly individual rooms, mostly in outbuilding with outdoor seating, as well as larky modern art, upcycled, recycled and vintage furniture, a restaurant and bar serving pub food with a difference.

In a beautiful location on the shore of Loch Sunart, where otters swim in the waters and red squirrels scamper around the land, this 18th-century lodge offers country-house comforts and plenty of Scottish flair, ranging from tartan fabrics to homemade shortbread.

Roses festoon this family and dog-friendly 17th-century pub with rooms, in a thriving village close to the RSPB's Snettisham Nature Reserve.

With a history stretching back to Norman times, Helen Heraty's beautiful hotel has spacious, antique-filled bedrooms, an oasis rear garden bounded by the city wall, stunning views of the Minister and a fine-dining restaurant.

Attached to a 15th-century fortified tower house, the Mernagh family's farmhouse B&B offers both history and comfort. Guests are welcomed to this lived-in and loved home with tea or coffee and home-baked biscuits.