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.

'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.

The catch of the day could be Shetland hake in the restaurant or nifty fielding on the sands at this pub-with-rooms overlooking the Firth of Forth, with its own beach cricket team.

'An exceptional seaside hotel', with views from the rooms and terrace to secluded Combesgate beach below, this family-friendly hotel is a former Edwardian gentleman's retreat.

Beside the ferry landing, with views to Mull and Staffa, this family-run hotel and island social hub has smart, uncluttered bedrooms, and short menus of locally fished and farmed produce.

With a youthful vibe and brimming with fun, this quirky hotel and local hangout, occupying a Georgian coach house above the harbour, has beach-shack chic bedrooms, a café, cocktail bar and curated art collection.

In sub-tropical gardens with views over Lyme Bay, this family-run hotel offers a wide choice of accommodation, and imaginative, locally sourced food.

Within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB, this dog friendly former coaching inn, part of the Chestnut Collection, with interiors inspired by the landscape, has rustic-chic and contemporary bedrooms, a bar menu, and modern dishes served in a light-filled dining room and outdoors.

A Victorian inn looking onto a leafy square, this is now a smart, family friendly, dog-friendly pub with a wide choice of bedrooms and relaxed ambience, serving bar snacks, small plates and pub classics.

A historic brick and flint malt house with bedrooms spread over the main building, stables and cottages, this new, family friendly, dog-friendly hotel close to a pebble beach garners praise for its ambience and for locally soured food served in the Grain Store restaurant.

Set on a private sandy beach, this dog friendly, Barbados-inspired hotel has a terrific mix of rooms, suites and beach cabins as well as a sea-facing restaurant and beach bar and grill.

The only pub on this family-owned, car-free island, the New Inn has smart contemporary interiors alongside plenty of innate charm.

A Baroque Victorian mansion in five-acre grounds above the Fowey estuary is home to this relaxed but stylish hotel, offering fun for all the family (not forgetting the dog), flexible dining, and comfortable, contemporary bedrooms.

The restaurant, terrace and many of the New England-style bedrooms overlook South Sands beach at this contemporary hotel, where you can bring your dog, dine alfresco on Fowey mussels or crab linguine, and sleep within sight and sound of the waves.

In rose-filled gardens approached by a bridge across a stream, the Wild family's hotel, converted from three 17th-century cottages a stroll from its own quayside, has well-equipped, country-classic bedrooms, and both formal and informal dining in restaurant and brasserie.

The Fowey estuary washes around the rear terrace projecting out into the water at this white stucco Victorian hotel, with boutique-chic bedrooms in restful shades, some with a small balcony, and a restaurant serving classic dishes with a modern twist.

Occupying a Georgian mansion overlooking the Exe estuary, Michelin-starred chef Michael Caines's hotel is a foodie destination with an ambience of soft-spoken luxury, suites with a balcony or a terrace with fire pit and marble soak tub, and shepherds' huts for nights of bucolic bliss.

The views from this quayside Victorian hotel overlooking the Stour and Orwell estuaries are ocean-going and full of action, while the industrial-chic ground-floor bar is the place for small plates, ales and interesting gins, the first-floor brasserie for fish and shellfish landed almost on the doorstep, the comfy bedrooms for a great night's sleep.

Behind a historic, jettied black-and-white facade a stroll from the quay lies a drop-in café, bar and restaurant, and, up creaky old stairs, quaint, pet-friendly bedrooms, named after old sea dogs.