'Hotel settings don't get much more spectacular than the Polurrian's, on the cliff edge overlooking its own beach,' writes a guide insider. The relaxed family and dog-friendly hotel makes the most of the coastal views.

Big picture windows frame views of the Dart at this cool, contemporary hotel with a leisure vibe, uncluttered chic bedrooms, relaxed bistro dining in the riverside restaurant and alfresco.

Readers are unanimous in their praise of the welcoming, helpful staff at this family-friendly hotel at the top of the town, with lovely garden, light-filled restaurant, and glorious views over Lyme Bay.

This Victorian gothic mansion might appear a little forbidding, but step inside and you are overwhelmed by a warm ambience and beautiful interiors, while some guests choose to sleep in the woods in a timber-lined 'hive' or treehouse.

Following a stunning redesign, this family-friendly, luxury New Forest hotel and spa continues to set the standard for country-house comfort, romance, fun and superb food.

Life is attuned to nature at this country-house hotel in a Georgian mansion on a working estate. with walled garden, biodynamic farm, luxury spa, and two restaurants that celebrate seasonality and provenance.

Brothers Rhys and Rhodri Davies have created six beautiful, Scandi-chic bedrooms in a Georgian corner house across the road from their popular bar and restaurant, purveyors of the famous Hive honey ice cream.

With 100 metres of waterfront, river-view bedrooms, casual all-day dining, and plenty to do, this is a fun, casual hotel with a good choice of bedrooms at affordable prices.

Alluringly re-designed, this Georgian mansion set back from the high street in a smart Huddersfield suburb, is brimming with distinctive spaces in which to sit, drink and dine.

In wooded grounds with Dartmoor National Park on the doorstep, the Hassell family's country-house hotel and beautiful spa impresses with a warm welcome, great service, and a choice of dining venues.

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

A neo-Gothic fantasy castle in glorious pleasure grounds and parkland, the Cunliffe-Lister family's hotel offers a taste of country-house living, with opulent interiors, spacious bedrooms and suites, estate-to-plate dining and a spa.

'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.

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.

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.

Steeped in romance, this Elizabethan manor-house hotel is a place of contrasts, blending history with modern amenities, from the Great Hall lounge and four-poster bedrooms, to Scandi-style wellness rooms with outdoor hot tub, a state-of-the art spa, a Michelin-starred restaurant and more informal brasserie.

The designers have gone to town on this family-friendly city sister to Cliveden and Chewton Glen, spread over a row of Georgian townhouses in swanky W1 and filled with playful touches. Some of the luxury suites have a garden terrace, and light bites and small plates are served in the clubby Dandy Bar.

At the entrance of this village in the beautiful Val d'Annivers, Anne-Françoise and Claude Buchs-Favre's large white, blue-shuttered hotel dates from 1859.

Centred on a Georgian farmhouse in Arts and Crafts ornamental gardens, with a spa, gym, cinema and contemporary bedrooms, this honeyed-stone luxury country-house hotel holds a Michelin star for Ricki Weston's inspired tasting menus in The Dining Room, while guests can dine more informally on small plates in Grey's, or from an all-day lounge menu.

This historic plantation house stands in large tropical grounds on a white sand beachon the north side of the island

Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin and Elizabeth Taylor were among notable guests entertained by press baron Lord Beaverbrook at this glamorous Victorian mansion overlooking Italianate gardens, now an opulent spa hotel and treasure trove of memorabilia, with a tempting range of dining options.

With golf, tennis, kayaking and powerboating, indoor pool and outdoor hot tub, this spa hotel in 65 acres of garden and woodland on the Helford river is a holiday resort in its own right.

'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.

At the centre of a glorious, honeyed-stone Georgian crescent, two adjoining mansions are home to an elegant yet family-friendly hotel with an air of opulence, elegant bedrooms, fine dining in Montagu's Muse restaurant, an oasis garden and charming spa.

A veritable palazzo, this Italianate mansion in National Trust pleasure grounds above the Thames oozes opulence, with bedrooms ranging from doubles to lavish suites, as well as a fine dining restaurant overlooking the parterre, and simpler options in the Astor Grill.

Enjoy Victorian Gothic splendour and fine or more casual dining at this country mansion with a spa and golf course in parkland.

Thirty-five suites, newly modernised and arranged in a horseshoe shape around a freshwater swimming pool, make up this small luxury hotel, decorated in contemporary style.

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

The epitome of Edwardian grand-hotel luxury, with its liveried doormen, dazzling interiors, glamorous bedrooms, Michelin-starred cooking in the fabulously redesigned dining room, the Goring is, for all its cachet, welcoming and unaffected, with an acre of garden at the rear.

On a quiet, cobbled street in the heart of Soho is the New York addition to London's splendid Firmdale hotel group.