‘Perfection to the very last detail,’ writes a reader this year, of Tim and Stefa Hart’s hotel with landscaped gardens stretching down to Rutland Water.

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

With its classic red brick facade, smartly suited doormen and Knightsbridge location, the hotel has offered the same ‘splendid’ intimate hospitality for almost half a century.

After more than 50 years, this country house hotel and spa on the edge of the New Forest still sets the standard for luxury.

In a ‘beautiful setting’, beside the Saxon church in a ‘picturesque’ North Pennines village, Cheryl and Thomas Robinson’s 18th-century inn is ‘an absolute gem’.

‘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.

‘We couldn’t have enjoyed it more or been more welcome,’ write trusted Guide correspondents this year, after dropping by at Keith Makepeace’s long-established, family-run hotel with views across National Trust coastline to the open sea.

'Tis a very pritty place,' wrote the diarist and former resident, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. After visiting the National Trust’s red brick mansion, Guide readers happily concur.

‘One comes for the food, and it doesn’t disappoint,’ reports a trusted Guide reader after a 2018 visit to Susan and Bryan Webb’s Michelin-starred restaurant-with-rooms in a ‘peaceful rural location’.

‘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.

‘Highly, highly recommended. We shall return.’ Much praise from a reader for this ‘wonderful little boutique hotel’ with ‘delightful’ views across Loch Linnhe and the Morvern mountains.

In the lea of the cliffs, overlooking a private beach on the rugged Galloway coast, Sian and David Ibbotson’s Victorian hunting lodge offers a great sense of escape.

‘As good as ever in all respects,’ writes a regular visitor after this year’s visit to Lawrence Hoskins’s popular hotel, a historic landmark of this Georgian town.

‘Old-fashioned in all the best ways’, ‘a Cornish jewel’, ‘a real joy – almost a privilege – to stay there’; complements rained down from trusted readers after visits to Toby Ashworth’s hotel on the Roseland Peninsula.

A coat of arms and portraits of past owners set the tone at this honey-hued former rectory, recommended by Guide readers for a ‘welcoming, comfortable, relaxing’ country house experience

Having hosted everyone from Chaplin to Churchill, this ‘superbly refurbished’ Italianate mansion seduces visitors with the prospect of ‘luxurious country house living’.

Built in 1652 as a manor house, this stone inn on the edge of the Peak District national park is owned by Lord and Lady Manners of nearby Haddon Hall

On the banks of the River Ouse, Julia and John Hoskins’s ivy-covered town house hotel impressed trusted readers, who enjoyed the buzz created by locals ‘chatting over drinks’ in the ‘casual, cosy setting’ of the bar.

‘We always look forward to staying.’ Miles and Audrey Hunter’s ‘tranquil’ small hotel on the Welsh border received a flurry of praise from new and regular visitors this year.

Consisting of bungalows and low buildings in gardens around a small bay (with a Blue Flag beach) on Crete’s north coast, this secluded resort hotel stands in ‘beautifully designed’ gardens with ‘wonderful views’.

‘Set in a period property, this hotel pampers its clients like friends, and captures an age of country house hospitality,’ write readers this year, of Barbara Garnsworthy’s former dower house in a feudal village.

‘We much enjoyed our stay,’ writes a reader this year, of this Edwardian country house hotel in ‘grounds of a sporty nature’.

‘There have been changes since last year at this restaurant-with-rooms in a small coastal town dominated by its 12th-century castle and famous for its oysters.

The Pembrokeshire Coastal Path runs through the valley below the rear garden terrace of Helen and Chris Sheldon’s Georgian town house in this market town between the Preseli hills and the cliffs of Strumble Head.