A beautifully proportioned Queen Anne-style mansion overlooking a duck pond, this much-loved traditional hotel has a new owner, but, after 48 years, Baba Hine remains, overseeing restaurant, bistro and well-equipped, spacious bedrooms.

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.

Readers are unanimous in their praise for James Moffett's Peak District Hotel, a 17th-centiry gem, a paradise for walkers, where the welcome is friendly, the hospitality generous and the cooking hearty.

In a quiet, restful setting with its own small flock of sheep and free-range hens, this rustic-chic B&B is tucked away down a farm track by an old oak wood just three miles from the city centre.

A popular wedding venue, this Georgian former rectory with the ambience of a small country-house hotel scored highly with Guide inspectors for the superb cooking: a place worth visiting for the restaurant alone.

If you're looking for affordable luxury, this Victorian mansion in parkland, remodelled in the style of a French château, has spacious bedrooms, opulent suites, and a choice of small-plates dining or a tasting menu.

Named in honour of Shrewsbury's famous son, this Grade II* listed Sandford House, moments from the Severn towpath, has evolved into a B&B full of Darwin references, with animal and plant wallpapers, maps and natural history objets.

Amid rolling hills, where Shropshire nudges Herefordshire, Pippa and Willem Vlok's restaurant with rooms comprises a picturesque set piece of medieval and Georgian farm buildings.

There is a wide choice of generously equipped rooms at this substantial, dog friendly, family-friendly hotel on the edge of the Burghley Estate, with a pleasantly informal ambience and imaginative, seasonally inspired food served in the bistro.

Refurbished throughout by a new owner, this Georgian coaching inn in the city's historic heart offers a good choice of comfortable bedrooms, bars and dining options.

With views over the Hope Valley and Peak District walks from the door, this hotel and wedding venue offers a wide choice of smart bedrooms named after the Australian cricket team who stayed here in 1937.

This traditional dog friendly, child friendly village local and dining pub, with four rooms above and five in a garden annexe, has received a new lease of life under new owner Tom Downing.

Behind the Tudor black-and-white facade of this old coaching inn lies a gastropub big on sustainability, with some quirky options for an overnight stay.

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.

For bed and bard, you won’t find better than the Eden Collection’s child-friendly, dog-friendly, Georgian red-brick hotel, official partner of the RSC, right opposite the Royal Shakespeare and Swan theatres, with smart contemporary interiors, brasserie and alfresco dining.

It's no wonder that Ian and Chrissie Carling's hotel is so dramatic. Ardent about performing arts, they created and are patrons of the Barn Theatre next door.

Food is at the heart of this hotel, with bedrooms of great charm in an ancient farmhouse and its converted outbuildings, an on-site cookery school and farm-to-fork menus of exciting, locally sourced dishes.

This former shooting lodge, in a lovely Peak District setting beside the Derbyshire Wye, offers appealing accommodation, with some rooms opening onto a patio, and food of a high order in the restaurant.

Built by the founder of Westonbirt arboretum next door, this Victorian Renaissance-style Cotswold stone manor house is now a dog-friendly Fuller's hotel in its own lovely gardens and woodland. It exudes an easy charm, with a relaxing bar and drawing room, interesting bedroom choices and varied options in the restaurant.

Massive crenellated walls, with arrow slits and multi-tier bay windows, enclose panelled interiors adorned with tapestries and suits of armour at this Tudor castle and Relais & Châteaux hotel, with modern creature comforts, very special bedrooms, and a fine-dining restaurant.

In gardens bordered by the old castle moat, two knocked-together Georgian villas combine to form one beautiful, friendly hotel, with elegant and generously equipped bedrooms and suites, and exciting cooking in the conservatory using produce from the family farm.

An imposing presence on the old Great North Road, this creeper-covered coaching inn is a bit of old England, much loved for its timeless ambience, solidly traditional styling and retro classic dishes in the Oak Room, where a silver-domed carvery trolley still makes the rounds.

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

Part of the Signet Collection, this hotel has an easy-going vibe, smart, affordable bedrooms, relaxed brasserie dining, an outdoor spa and a rolling programme of activities, from yoga to wine tastings and murder-mystery dinners.

Bedrooms, some with access to a shared courtyard, are spread across the main house and converted outbuildings at this hotel In landscaped grounds on the edge of the Wolds, where interiors mix antiques with modern comforts, while fine and casual dining are on offer in the dog-friendly Pig and Whistle pub and restaurant.

A 16th-century inn whose signal torch once guided travellers across the fens is today a beacon of hospitality, combining the pleasures of a cosy dining pub with individually styled bedrooms and smart modern bathrooms.

Modelled on Rome's Villa Borghese and overlooking Italianate gardens with lakes, fountains and statuary, this spa hotel has a hip vibe, bold interiors, lovely bedrooms, fabulous bathrooms, a buzzy cocktail bar, and French-inspired cooking in the panelled dining room.