As much restaurant with rooms as friendly local, this 18th-century village pub, run by a husband-and-wife team, offers smart accommodation and cooking of a very high order.

Everything speaks of respect for nature, provenance and seasonality at Nicholas Balfe's restaurant with beautifully designed and generously supplied bedrooms and a buzzy vibe.

'Gardez la Foi' reads the Poulett family motto over the door of this thatched village pub, and the trio behind the Beckford group (see The Beckford Arms, Tisbury) have kept absolute faith with their winning concept here. The ambience is friendly and relaxed.

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

On the green of a village at the heart of the Somerset Levels, this stone-built 18th-century village inn has been updated as a stylish, contemporary drop-in bar and restaurant, with light, bright bedrooms and menus for traditionalists as well as more adventurers diners.

Behind a Georgian frontage with a century-old carved White Hart over the door, and dating in parts from the 1400s, this inn on the market square is a blend of cosy rusticity and casual chic, with stylish bedrooms, a beamed locals bar, snacks and small plates available all day, and a restaurant in the old skittle alley serving gastropub fare.

Black swans glide on the pond in the gardens of veteran jazz saxophonist Roy Copeland's late-Georgian mansion, with traditionally styled rooms, where an excellent breakfast is served in the orangery.

A riot of wisteria in spring, this crenellated 18th-century reconstruction of a Norman castle, owned by the Chapman family since 1950, has a mix of refurbished, traditional and retro-chic bedrooms, while brasserie dishes are served in buzzy Brazz, light bites and afternoon tea in the drawing room.

A 14th-century clergy house is home to this hotel, with bright, individually styled bedrooms, and a restaurant serving steaks and burgers as well as highly creative dishes, using locally sourced and home-grown produce.

There's a wealth of olde worlde character at this 17th-century thatched village inn, with oak beams, flagged floors, real fires and ales, smart contemporary bedrooms in a purpose-built 'barn', exciting gastropub cooking, and wood-fired pizzas in summer in the garden.