‘Can only talk in superlatives,’ writes a reader this year of Sue and James Murray’s historic manor house.

‘High standards are maintained,’ writes a devoted fan, following a New Year stay at the Francis family’s hotel, forged from a 16th-century fortification.

‘Without exception the house and its antique contents are fabulous; it’s an absolute gem,’ wrote a long-term Guide reader after visiting the National Trust hotel overlooking Snowdonia.

‘We have become addicted to this place,’ write trusted readers, following a return visit to this beautiful Elizabethan manor house (Relais & Châteaux).

‘One for traditionalists,’ write trusted Guide readers, of this child-friendly, dog-friendly Jacobean ancestral home in Thomas Hardy country, run by owners Richard and Brian Prideaux-Brune, with Richard’s wife, Alison.

A romantic Jacobean mansion, first opened as a hotel in 1990 by the late Sir Bernard Ashley, remains home to his ‘fabulous collection of paintings, sculptures and antiques’.

Approached by a private road, this ‘large, rambling but wonderful’ late Georgian mansion, in ‘magnificent grounds’, is owned and cherished by Susannah and Stuart Macpherson.

It is easy to see why this 18th-century Italianate country house is known locally as The Castle.