In a hamlet just 25 minutes from Bath, 'the Carps' is a 'very nice country pub' offering 'very good' food, and oodles of atmosphere in the stone-walled, beamed bar, with fire and log-burner.

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

Serving cider since 1851, this honey-stone village pub has been attracting attention since a lockdown makeover by enthusiastic new owners. Contemporary-chic bedrooms have good fabrics, a Roberts radio, posh toiletries, views over gently rolling countryside.

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.

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.

Three Grade I listed Georgian townhouses combine as one boutique but indulgently child-friendly hotel and spa, with highly individual and beautiful bedrooms, all with vinyl record player and espresso machine, touches of whimsy, a bar serving cocktails and imaginative small and large plates.

Koos Bekker and Karen Roos have brought to Somerset the vision behind their hotel on a Dutch Cape wine estate, creating an idyll around Palladian Hadspen manor house, with farm-to-fork dining, dreamy spa, unique rooms in converted outbuildings, beautiful gardens – and a Roman villa as well as two interactive museums.

Trained chefs Caroline Gardiner and Alan Lucas have transformed this former village inn into a restaurant offering sustainably sourced menus of beautifully presented food with rustic-chic bedrooms and lodges, making it the perfect place for a country retreat.

In a medieval village overlooked by a red sandstone castle, the one-time guest house for Cleeve Abbey is now a dog-friendly hotel with an onsite hair and beauty salon, a stunning historic bar and 28 bedrooms, some with contemporary furnishings, some with an antique four-poster.

Saved from decay, completely refurbished and fitted out with flair and a sense of fun, this Georgian coaching inn has bedrooms of great character as well as seriously good food.

A riot of wisteria in spring, this crenellated 18th-century reconstruction of a Norman castle, owned by the Chapman family since 1950, has a mix of refurbished, traditional and retro-chic bedrooms, while brasserie dishes are served in buzzy Brazz, light bites and afternoon tea in the drawing room.