A popular wedding venue, this Georgian former rectory with the ambience of a small country-house hotel scored highly with Guide inspectors for the superb cooking: a place worth visiting for the restaurant alone.

For more than 40 years, Raymond Blanc has held two Michelin stars at this beautiful country-house hotel 'and in our opinion, it's a travesty that he hasn't been awarded three', say Guide insiders.

Readers return time and again to Gary and Donna MacRae's small, adults-only country-house hotel in woodland gardens, with immaculate bedrooms, fell views, and outstanding nightly set-price dinner, preceded by aperitifs and canapés in the lounge.

The gardens are the great glory of John and Sue Cushing's Georgian manor house deep in dairy country, with abundant home-grown produce featuring on menus, and light summer lunches served on the rose garden terrace.

You can imagine nodding off in an armchair over the latest issue of Samuel Johnson's Idler, or William Hazlitt's polemics in the Tatler, when you step into this time-warp hotel and close the door on trendy Soho. It was here, on a Georgian terrace in the 1820s, that essayist Hazlitt penned his valediction, and antiques and furnishings keep faith with a bygone age.

There is great food and serious fun to be had at this clifftop hotel on the South West Coast Path, its interiors filled with whimsical touches, its bedrooms all unique, its subtropical gardens a wonderland of witty sculptures.

There is a wide choice of generously equipped rooms at this substantial, dog friendly, family-friendly hotel on the edge of the Burghley Estate, with a pleasantly informal ambience and imaginative, seasonally inspired food served in the bistro.

Anne Boleyn's childhood home, reimagined by William Waldorf Astor as a fairytale moated castle, stands in landscaped grounds with an Edwardian 'Tudor' village, home to this exceptional B&B.

There is a happy sense of continuity at this classic Georgian country house, where sixth-generation owners Louise and John Mathers have been welcoming guests since 2005.

A 'popular pub in a beautiful village', this 15th-century coaching inn with its old arched carriageway has been beautifully made over in casual-chic style. It was a second venture for Dan Brod and Charlie Luxton, with Matt Greenlees.

Huddled below wooded hills, beside a stone bridge over the River Monnow, this whitewashed former 17th-century coaching inn serves delicious food and has great walks from the door to help you justify eating it.

A beautifully proportioned Queen Anne-style mansion overlooking a duck pond, this much-loved traditional hotel has a new owner, but, after 48 years, Baba Hine remains, overseeing restaurant, bistro and well-equipped, spacious bedrooms.

There's history a-plenty in this upmarket B&B, an Italianate villa with breathtaking views over the Glaslyn estuary to the Rhinog mountains, warm and welcoming hosts, and bedrooms named after famous former residents, including Percy Bysshe Shelley, who wrote 'Queen Mab' here.

With the feel of a private club rather than a hotel, this beautifully restored Georgian property lies behind the 18th-century facade of three shop-houses in a once-notorious area that is now filled with hip eateries and bars.

This Tudor Gothic-style Elizabethan mansion, extended over centuries, overlooks parkland with a rare 17th-century parterre, walled rose garden, cascade, lily pond and follies.

With a history stretching back to Norman times, Helen Heraty's beautiful hotel has spacious, antique-filled bedrooms, an oasis rear garden bounded by the city wall, stunning views of the Minister and a fine-dining restaurant.

Agatha Christie memorabilia, murder-mystery weekends and Art Deco touches set the tone at Hugh and Emma Asher's creeper-clad hotel, former home of the author's doctor friends, in a bustling market town.

Within a Georgian house in a trendy corner of East London once home to Huguenot silk weavers, Peter McKay and Douglas Blain set out to weave a fantasy of their own.

Readers are unanimous in their praise for James Moffett's Peak District Hotel, a 17th-centiry gem, a paradise for walkers, where the welcome is friendly, the hospitality generous and the cooking hearty.

There is a touch of the baronial about this pink sandstone Tudor-style 19th-century mansion, a country-house hotel with fine original features, its public rooms adorned with shooting trophies.

There are stunning views across the Golden Valley from this Georgian mansion, a smart but friendly hotel with fine-dining restaurant.

Behind the solid exterior of an Edwardian park-side villa lies a Scandi-chic boutique hotel and popular drop-in restaurant.

Amid rolling hills, where Shropshire nudges Herefordshire, Pippa and Willem Vlok's restaurant with rooms comprises a picturesque set piece of medieval and Georgian farm buildings.

Thomas Hardy fans will be in their element at this local watering hole in Dorset, which was the model for 'The Sow and Acorn' in Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

Winding country lanes lead to this popular local and gastropub with a welcoming vibe, smart New England-style bedrooms and a restaurant serving the freshest fish and seafood.

In an enchanting village, this coaching inn retains the ambience of a friendly local, with its beamed bar and real ales. But indulgent main-house bedrooms with private patio together with Michelin-starred chef James Mackenzie's spin on classic British dishes, lift it way above the ordinary.

The neon sign outside this former steward's house in a 1,000-acre deer park sets the tone for what to expect in this unique and interesting pub owned by art dealer Ivor Braka, with provocative works by artists such as Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst on display within.

Overlooking the River Hodder in the Forest of Bowland, this sprawling 18th-century manor house is joyously traditional, with stone-flagged floors, open fires, bags of atmosphere and great food.

On a Georgian square overlooking a green, this former coaching inn and popular local drop-in offers an interesting choice of bedrooms, dog-friendly dining and a mix of pub classics and modern dishes.

With peacocks in the garden, kilt-wearing staff, fire-warmed sitting rooms and antiques at every turn, this 17th-century country house is an indulgent place to stay.