Readers are ‘unable to fault anything at all’ at this ivy-clad country house hotel on the edge of the New Forest, ‘the ultimate luxurious and indulgent treat’.

This 17th-century manor house of honeyed Cotswold stone looks every bit the smart country house hotel.

‘Staying here was an experience,’ wrote Guide inspectors of Nick Dent’s Georgian farmhouse hotel, which is so dog-friendly it even hosts doggie birthday parties, and where creative reuse has been raised to an art form.

Shrouded from the world by rolling gardens and wooded dells and with ‘impeccably maintained grounds’, this creeper-covered Victorian country house was once a retreat for circuit judges.

You can almost hear the skirling of pipes as you gaze across Loch Shiel from Jane MacFarlane’s waterside mansion to the Glenfinnan Monument and distant Ben Nevis.

‘A wonderful place’, this Georgian mansion with a pedigree (Lord Byron was married to Anne Isabella Millbanke in the drawing room) stands in landscaped gardens overlooking Durham’s heritage coast.

Whether you stay in the Victorian lodge in Abergavenny Castle grounds, in the former stables, or in the main building, William Griffiths’s Georgian coaching inn on the edge of the Brecon Beacons continues to impress.

Queen Victoria thought of Italy as she viewed the ‘red cliffs and rocks and wooded hills’ that surround pebbly Babbacombe Bay, and for la dolce vita look no further than this spa hotel.

‘Superbly positioned, with stunning views to the cathedral and the Somerset country beyond, Glastonbury Tor in the distance.

An 18th-century malthouse on a hilltop, with spectacular views across the Evenlode valley, is today a village hub, pub and foodie destination.

Studied eccentricity abounds at this Georgian house on the market square with most rooms styled on a geographic theme – and a hairdresser and boutique on site.

Every Dog has its day, and Marc Bridgen’s canine-friendly gastropub-with-rooms has been garnering awards since his family took it on in 2016.

A ‘lovely’ walled garden gives a country house air to this small hotel in the heart of a historic market town.

Jan and Adam Moore’s relaxed, pet-friendly country hotel is in an 18th-century sporting lodge surrounded by mature gardens and woodland.

Heathery tones and tweedy fabrics bring a breath of fresh Orkney air to this family-owned hotel, in a peaceful area just beyond the city centre.

Jamie and Jenna Shail’s manor house hotel dates to 1823, but its tastefully refreshed style and ambitious cooking place it squarely in the 21st century.

This Lutyens-style Arts and Crafts manor house with wood panelling and leaded windows presides over landscaped grounds, with lawns, ponds, rose and herb gardens.

Perfectly placed to explore the New Forest, this Victorian Arts and Crafts inn, on the Beaulieu river near Lord Montagu’s home, is a mix of cosy bolt-hole, luxury hotel and fine-dining restaurant, with a pub in a 1920s wing.

Rising above the reed beds and River Glaven in a pretty village no longer ‘next the sea’, Julian and Carolyn Godlee’s 19th-century windmill offers characterful accommodation.

You can dine in the conservatory or alfresco at the Nye family’s hotel, and gaze across tidal salt marshes to the sea that supplied what is on your plate.

Walkers and those with four-legged friends are among the happy customers of the ‘ultimate dog-friendly hotel’ built on the ruins of a hilltop Norman castle with views to the south Shropshire hills.

In sweeping lawns within acres of woodland, this secluded baronial mansion is a ‘little jewel’.

High in the Malvern hills, this refurbished Georgian dower house has ‘stunning’ views over the Severn valley.

One of Scotland’s first country house hotels, this turreted 1920s mansion in tranquil, ‘elegant’ gardens is owned by Mark and Christopher Forrester, grandsons of two of the original founders.