For those who like to be beside the seaside, this style-conscious hotel ‘has much to recommend it’.

Meet your sweetheart underneath the spreading horse chestnut tree that fronts this ‘thoroughly recommended’ thatch-roofed country inn.

‘We had a fantastic stay.’ Guests in 2016 ‘really enjoyed’ Moyra and Rod Davidson’s ‘relaxing’ Georgian B&B, in tranquil farmland with uninterrupted views across the Solway Firth.

‘A perfect little hotel, ideal for those with dogs.’ Travelling pets are as well looked after as their human companions at Imogene and Robert Anglaret’s dog-friendly hotel in the New Forest.

What to do next is the hardest decision you might face at this expanded 17th-century castle (Hastings Hotels) overlooking the beach. It is ‘excellently located’ for living out fantasies of all kinds: follow the footsteps of giants along the Causeway coastal route; tour nearby Bushmills distillery; trace each moment of the TV series Game of Thrones, which was filmed nearby.

Between Totnes and Dartmouth, Nichola and Graham Hawkins’s B&B occupies a lavishly renovated 400-year-old longhouse. This is a homely, rustic spot, where rooms have been kitted out with fresh flowers, English oak fittings and a mix of antique and farmhouse furnishings.

With wide views of the Kent coast, this privately owned red-brick bolthole is named for the British master who immortalised the region. Prints of JMW Turner’s works hang in the airy, rustic lounge, above squashy sofas and a wood-burning stove; the spacious terrace looks across the garden to the sea.