A hilltop setting for this ancient fortress with an illustrious past. You stay in apartments or farmhouses inside or outside the walls

Quirky art hotel in the heart of trendy Brighton – there's a great bar, stylish rooms and wonderful breakfasts

Come for an exceptionally inviting 17th-century Inn, a chocolate-box Cotswold village, excellent local food and ales, very comfortable rooms

A very special old priory from the late Middle Ages and a separate tower with lush, rambling gardens, sitting in a charming, sleepy village

A pretty stone single-storey house, now renovated beautifully into a comfortable hideaway with wonderful views to woodland and river

Charming manor house B&B, packed with character, interest and history, sitting in extensive gardens and with elegant bedrooms

Readers adore this place run by warm, generous sisters Renée and Claude. Stroll the wild gardens - follow a path into the lovely landscape

A quirky hotel with enthusiastic owners in an authentic Andalucian town, just ten minutes up winding roads from Marbella

Lavender shortbread and baked peaches for breakfast at this most artistic of homes. The courtyard with magnolia and orange trees is lovely

A listed townhouse with 16th-century roots in lovely little Wells with a pretty garden, just a short walk to the magnificent cathedral

Built in 1518 to gaze across the Loire to Amboise and decorated with discreet elegance and respect for its history. Guests love it

Cosy country cottage for four on an organic farm in the Welsh borders. Wake to the sounds of birds and sheep, walk off supper on rural romps

If you need a great place in which to relax and don’t want to pay too much for it, try these excellent suites, which spoil you all the way

A very comfortable and attractive 1820 gate lodge surrounded by mature trees on a family estate, in gently rolling countryside

Independence at one end of the house with your own sitting room opening onto a courtyard garden. Good pub for food a few minutes' walk away

A lovely listed cottage, just stumbling distance from a good pub in a quiet village surrounded by spectacular walking and cycling country

This is Somerset at its most quintessential: a thatched roofed, honey-coloured Hamstone cottage with a pretty courtyard garden; sleeps four