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

A family- and dog-friendly leisure resort in the Mole valley, this deconstructed hotel offers a choice of traditional rooms and eco-friendly lodges, morning-to-night activities, formal and casual dining.

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

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.

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, fine-dining restaurant and bistro.

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.

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

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.

There are 'great views of the Camel Estuary' from this 1920s, family-friendly hotel that is 'virtually on the famous golf course'.

A Georgian manor house above Chesil Beach, this is a dog- and people-friendly hotel designed for holidays and fun, catering to everyone from tinies to grown-ups with sophisticated tastes.

At the centre of a glorious Georgian crescent, two adjoining mansions are home to an elegant yet family-friendly hotel with oasis garden and beautiful spa.

An iconic white Victorian hotel on a cliff-top is today a dog- and family-friendly hotel with spa, outdoor pool, informal bar dining, and more ambitious cooking in the Atlantic View restaurant.

There is a simple sophistication about both the interiors and the menus at this Georgian rectory, where bedrooms have contemporary and period furniture and subtle paint shades, and modern dishes tick the boxes for foodies.

Michelin-starred chef Michael Caines has created a country house hotel for the 21st century, a foodie destination and place of soft-spoken luxury, in a Georgian mansion overlooking the Exe estuary.

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.

With 'a great setting in large grounds' and the 'huge plus' of an outdoor heated pool, this ornate Italianate Victorian house in woodland and gardens impressed our inspectors, who found it a 'very relaxed place'.

A through-the-looking-glass sort of place, this hotel playfully inverts the traditional country house theme, with bold interiors created for new owners the Experimental Group.

In 19 acres of sub-tropical gardens, this family-owned 65-room spa hotel is a happy marriage of the traditional and informal, with well-equipped rooms, fine dining in the smart Trevilder, and a gastropub menu in the 16th-century village inn.

A Georgian house on the owners' small holding is run as a guest house and restaurant with beautifully styled bedrooms, heated pool, tennis court, and an ethos inspired by Italian agriturismo.