'Unparalleled views over the Severn Valley' can be seen from this hotel, in extensive grounds high above the Malvern Hills.

Guests to the manor born find a welcome escape from the Cotswolds' tourist honeypots at this historic country-house hotel, extended in the 1800s for the Witts family, rectors and later Lords of Upper Slaughter.

A walker's paradise on the Welsh border, the Hunter family's very dog-friendly hotel, in a Georgian former rectory with a 'beautiful garden and views', is much beloved by readers.

With the Chatsworth estate on the doorstep, Lord and Lady Burlington's Peak District hotel has had a ravishing makeover to complement the superb food in its restaurants.

The epitome of country-house luxury with gourmet dining, Tim and Stefa Hart's hotel stands on a peninsula, overlooking beautiful gardens and the shining expanse of Rutland Water.

A brook runs by the terrace of this smartly refurbished gastropub with rooms, where you can eat locally sourced, imaginative dishes in the restaurant or alfresco, or simply enjoy a pint with the locals.

'People come here for the food, and for good reason,' says a Guide insider of this buzzy pub with rooms, which is 'very much ye olde village inn, with rustic furniture and roaring fires under the beams'.

A romantic Elizabethan-style Edwardian mansion, built for a Manchester cotton bleacher and set in landscaped gardens, is the epitome of a well-run country-house hotel.

Perennial popular, professionally run but relaxed, this former coaching inn with views to the Shropshire hills is an ideal base for walkers and a perfect stopover within sight of the Welsh border.

There are stunning views across the Golden Valley from this Georgian mansion, a smart but friendly hotel with fine-dining restaurant.

The last word in Cotswold chic, this boutique hotel offers contemporary-cool bedrooms beside twin venture The Crown at Ampney Brook, a 16th-century pub where fantastic food is served from an open kitchen in the inn proper and in dining 'hives' beside the eponymous brook.

The rustic-chic bedrooms in farmhouse, cider house and barn at this rural Wye valley retreat in the Forest of Dean are all excellent, but the cooking is a still-greater attraction.

For lovers of art and history, the Taee family's adults-only B&B in parkland, built in the 14th century for the Abbot of Pershore and restored by genre painter F.D. Millet under William Morris's guidance, deserves every one of its five stars for its blend of superb modern hospitality and first-class facilities, with antique-filled interiors.