'A little bit of heaven,' writes a reader, of this hotel in parkland in Capability Brown parkland on the Lansdowne family estate, with pleasure grounds, arboretum, a fine-dining restaurant and picnics to order.

With 'a great setting in large grounds' and the 'huge plus' of an outdoor heated pool, this ornate Italianate Victorian house in woodland and gardens impressed our inspectors, who found it a 'very relaxed place'.

In two adjacent buildings, dating from 1452 and 1538, Philip O'Shea's restaurant with rooms is in the heart of the historic market town.

A lovely, wisteria-swagged, 17th-century Bath stone inn, this is a gastropub with a wide choice of characterful rooms, a serious attitude to food, regular comedy nights and an irrepressible sense of fun.

Ideally situated beside Corsham Court at the heart of the village, this former coaching inn has smartly refurbished bedrooms, a friendly, casual ambience and a menu of pub classics and fancier dishes, using produce from the kitchen garden.

Approached down a mile-long avenue of lime and beech trees, this grand Palladian mansion in 500 acres of parkland and gardens is a family friendly country-house hotel with spa, pools, an equestrian centre, luxury bedrooms, Michelin-starred menus in Restaurant Hywel Jones, and less formal dining in the Walled Garden Restaurant.

Everything is laid on for a fun, relaxing family escape at this dog-friendly Jacobean manor house, with a crèche, cinema, spa, pools indoors and out, playground, games room, comfy lounges, country-house bedrooms in the main house and cottages, and formal and informal dining.

'So much more than a pub with rooms', the Three Daggers has its own farm shop, brewery and spa barn with outdoor hot tub and sauna.

Overlooking the River Avon, this early-18th-century cloth-dyer's house has been imaginatively converted into a relaxed, modern-day inn with a terrific choice of Nordic-influenced bedrooms, some in a 1960s extension, an industrial-chic bar, and a restaurant serving refined pub food.