At the end of a ‘precipitous, twisty descent’, ‘courageous’ visitors are rewarded with ‘unrestricted views and a genuine, good-humoured welcome’ at Lana de Savary’s ‘fabulously secluded’ cliff-face hotel.

‘Beautifully located’ on the South West Coastal Path, this former Edwardian gentleman’s retreat has clifftop views of the three-mile-long beach.

‘To call it a hotel is to miss the point.’ In a peaceful valley, Richard Johnston’s quirky B&B is ‘a blend of rural escape and aristocratic eccentricity'.

‘It’s clear why so many guests return again and again.’ Huw Rees and Sam Prosser’s converted Georgian rectory, in large, well-maintained grounds, ‘is a haven of rural peace within easy reach of Exmoor and the sea’.

‘Old-fashioned in style and lovely for it.’ Returning guests this year were pleased to discover that Peter Wharton’s ‘splendid’ hotel overlooking Lyme Bay ‘sails gracefully on, without feeling the need to change things for the sake of change’.

For 120 years the Grose family have looked after this family-friendly’ hotel approached by lanes ‘resplendent with wild flowers’.

This lively hotel, in a sheltered cove, is surrounded by a wide terrace which faces the beachl