A charming oasis, Clive and Luidmila's lovingly restored 300-year-old house is tucked away in a small town of narrow, winding streets, within easy reach of the cities of Mdina and Valletta.

With their background in TV and film, Sara Curran and Peter Sussman, new owners of the former North House, are experts in presentation.

A New Forest bolt-hole, this country house hotel has an easy glamour, romantic and family-friendly rooms, heart-warming Italian food and top-notch spa.

Leave the fuss and fret of the AI(M) at Scotch Corner to reconnect with the land at this idyllic hotel, centred on a Georgian coach house amid gardens, parkland and woodland.

With 'nothing in between to Canada', this pretty blue-and-white weatherboarded farmhouse-turned-hotel which sits above a secluded cove on Bryher's rugged west-facing coast is a 'very special and distinctive place', say guests.

History meets the modern world at this Elizabethan manor house, a luxury e hotel in eight acre-grounds, with gracious drawing room, state-of-the-art spa and fine-dining restaurant.

The Chambers family run their unpretentious, family-friendly hotel in a 19th-century house set in expansive grounds a short stroll uphill from the boats in the harbour.

A 'sprawling, traditional building in a beautiful setting' at the tip of Windermere, this family and dog-friendly hotel has easy access to lake-based activities as well as a spa.

A family- and dog-friendly leisure resort in the Mole valley, this deconstructed hotel offers a choice of traditional rooms and eco-friendly lodges, morning-to-night activities, formal and casual dining.

There is a clever mix of the traditional and modern at this Victorian coaching inn with contemporary main-house, poolside and spa suites, inventive cooking in the restaurant, and an all-year heated outdoor pool.

A favourite hangout of the England football team, the former home of Lord Louis Mountbatten is 'well-run', with contemporary bedrooms, cosseting suites, a good choice of eating and drinking spaces, and a magnificent spa.

Saved from decay, completely refurbished, fitted out with flair and a sense of fun, this Georgian coaching inn has bedrooms of great character and seriously good food.

The actor Colin Firth is a fan of 'the hospitality, the food, the comfort of the rooms', not to mention the location at this sprawling, cliff-top Edwardian house.

In a Tudor manor house in the Cotswolds just across from Cheltenham Racecourse, this hotel with spa and 90 acres of grounds is both family and dog-friendly.

The Milsom family's Victorian country house hotel in Dedham Vale, in the heart of Constable country, has been subtly rebranded with the addition of a spa by the pool house.

Koos Bekker and Karen Roos have brought to Somerset the vision behind their hotel on a Dutch Cape wine estate, creating an idyll around Palladian Hadspen manor house, with farm-to-fork dining, dreamy spa, unique rooms in converted outbuildings, beautiful gardens – and a Roman villa as well as two interactive museums.

'Treehouses, boathouses and shepherds' huts are scattered around 70 acres of glorious grounds on the Consall Hall Estate at this deconstructed, dog-friendly hotel.

Garden suites with hot tubs, a state-of-the-art spa, brightly coloured sofas under gleaming chandeliers . . . this country house hotel offers luxury with a contemporary edge.

In sumptuous gardens high above the sea, this small luxury hotel has superb views across the Gulf of Valinco.

An iconic white Victorian hotel on a cliff-top is today a dog- and family-friendly hotel with spa, outdoor pool, informal bar dining, and more ambitious cooking in the Atlantic View restaurant.

'A lovely hotel in a beautiful setting'; 'calm and quiet'. One of the Guide's best-loved hotels, the 'beautiful, old bastide', outside a delightful small town below the Massif de la Sainte Baume, stands in a large walled garden with swimming pool and fountain.

A Regency mansion in parkland, once home to Percy Shelley's mother, has been reimagined as a contemporary country house hotel infused with a blithe spirit.

It is more than thirty years since Sarah Burgoyne first welcomed guests to her Georgian manor house, 'in enchanting gardens and grounds', where 'deer roam at dawn and birdsong is guaranteed'.

A charmed 'village within a village', this collection of honeyed buildings houses chic rooms surrounded by pretty gardens, with outdoor pool, spa, cookery school, bar, and short, modern menus of country produce in the Ox Barn.

There is a simple sophistication about both the interiors and the menus at this Georgian rectory, where bedrooms have contemporary and period furniture and subtle paint shades, and modern dishes tick the boxes for foodies.