There is great food and serious fun to be had at this clifftop hotel on the South West Coast Path, its interiors filled with whimsical touches, its bedrooms all unique, its subtropical gardens a wonderland of witty sculptures.

High on the cliff top above Chesil Beach, this is an effortlessly hip, relaxed, fun hotel with a Cape Cod vibe, light and airy bedrooms, a bar serving cocktails and seriously good cooking in the restaurant.

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.

'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.

In an idyllic location, cascading down the cliffs at St Mawes with views to St Anthony's lighthouse, Olga Polizzi's seaside hotel continues to delight readers. Once home to a yacht club, it is spread across a cluster of houses and has a feel of the French Riviera about it.

'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.

Country-house luxury abounds at this child-friendly, dog-friendly hotel, a Georgian mansion in ‘well-maintained gardens a huge joy to visit’.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Overlooking an iconic surfers' beach, this adults-only spa hotel has a wide choice of rooms from very affordable to luxurious with sea-view balcony.

In a village close to Bath, one of England's oldest inns offers characterful rooms and above-average pub fare.

A former sports bar and one-time Berni Inn, this handsome pub has been splendidly renovated in Art Deco style for Young’s, recapturing its 1920s glory days, when it housed a cocktail bar.

You drive down a single-track road on the edge of Dartmoor National Park and cross a brook to reach this dog-friendly, very ancient, thatched and whitewashed village pub, redolent of history, serving excellent, locally sourced pub classics, with rustic-chic bedrooms and two resident ghosts.

Built as lodgings for the now-ruined abbey, 'Britain's oldest inn', much altered over centuries and cherished by its Texan owners, has a wide choice of beautifully presented rooms and appealing dining options.

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

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.

Hogwarts in style, this fairytale 1820s marine villa with its jumble of roofs, gables, gargoyles, towers and dormers, is set in gardens running down to a sandy beach. It delivers the usual Pig magic, with its dressed-down interiors, mismatched furniture, casual vibe, house bedrooms, shepherds' huts, thatched dovecotes, and a kitchen garden.

Striking modern artworks adorn the clubby interiors of this idealised rustic-chic dining pub and locals bar in a village on the Duchy of Somerset's estate, where each bedroom has its own style, and menus of sophisticated pub fare showcase locally grown, farmed and foraged ingredients.

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.

There is a retro feel about this restaurant with rooms, little changed in more than three decades and run with pride, where affordable bedrooms are supplied with ground coffee and home-baked biscuits, and set-price and tasting menus demonstrate the chefs' skills without fancy gimmickry.

A dog and child-friendly hotel above Chesil Beach, this Georgian manor house is dedicated to family leisure and pleasure, with plenty to keep tots and teens amused, while the restaurant serves light bites by day, bistro-style dishes at dinner.

The setting is pure hog heaven at this hotel, surrounded by a deer park in a fold in the Mendips. The part-Georgian building comes in the group's shabby-chic style and there's a kitchen garden with smokehouse, a wild-flower orchard, greenhouse, fruit cages and beehives, hens a-laying, and a 25-mile menu.

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.