In green grounds at the foot of Gragareth, this ‘friendly, unstuffy’ hotel makes a cushy base for travellers exploring the Yorkshire Dales and the southern Lakes.

‘Nothing compares to this special place,’ says a Guide reader in 2017 after a return visit to the Cunliffe family’s glamorous country house hotel.

‘We felt we were staying at a grand house rather than a hotel,’ say regular Guide correspondents this year of Charles Lowther and his family'’s Grade I listed ancestral home, built around a medieval pele tower and brimming with the owners’ personality.

Dogs and muddy boots are welcome at this fuss-free, family-friendly pub-with-rooms in a village between Lake Windermere and Hawkshead.

New brooms Jamie and Jenna Shail have refreshed this Georgian manor house since taking over in 2016, but traditional values have not been swept away.

Enter through the wood-panelled hall at mid-afternoon to be greeted with a cream tea at this upmarket B&B overlooking Lake Windermere.

In a ‘stunning’ Lake District location overlooking Esthwaite Water, Richard Lee’s ‘admirable’ country hotel is liked for its ‘comfortable bedrooms’, ‘first-class food’, ‘fabulous views’ and all-round ‘lovely ambience’.

‘Perfectly positioned’ on Whinlatter Pass, and with ‘stunning views’ towards Skiddaw from the curving conservatory restaurant, Kath and Liam Berney’s restaurant-with-rooms is surrounded by England’s only true mountain forest.

‘From the excellent service, decor and food to the exceptional attention to detail, they’ve certainly got it right.’

‘Helpful, charming, welcoming staff’ make a stay at this ‘beautiful’ 19th-century stone-and-slate country house a ‘relaxing experience’.

On the Wirral peninsula, Lorna Tyson and her husband, Donald, a farmer, have transformed an Edwardian country house into a relaxed B&B – ‘no notices/rules anywhere!’