Sunday Times' writers have reluctantly revealed their own good hotel guide, exclusively to Times Online... Together with the Good Hotel Guide selection, you're spoilt for choice.

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THE BLUE LION, East Witton, North Yorkshire

A stone's skim from Wensleydale, the Blue Lion started life as an 18th-century coaching inn, and it has twinkled down over East Witton's village green ever since. Few hotels do a better job of melding authentic country-pub cosiness with star-quality food.

The rooms are smart in a slightly rustic kind of way — it's worth paying a bit extra for the new ones in the converted stable-block. The restaurant is a candlelight-on-flagstones affair, toasty with atmosphere, and the mile-long menu is all about stout, fur-and-feathers British cuisine: blue Wensleydale and onion tart; beef and onion suet pudding. Just as well somebody built a bunch of hills and dales outside to help you walk it off. Contact: 01969 624273; www.thebluelion.co.uk. B&B doubles £79-120. By Vincent Crump

THE FEVERSHAM ARMS, Helmsley, North Yorkshire

Situated just off the market square of super-cute Helmsley, on the edge of the North York Moors National Park, the Feversham Arms has always been big on "country pursuits" such as shooting, walking (the Cleveland Way is right outside the door) and riding. There is an all-weather tennis court, a decent gym and heated outdoor pool. But is also has the modern essentials for a comfy stay: Egyptian cotton sheets, Bang & Olufsen TVs, PlayStations for the kids and a spa is planned for next year. The accomplished restaurant has a fashionably strong emphasis on local produce: wild duck, braised oxtail, belly of rare-breed pork and game in season. Great bacon butties for breakfast, too. One of the best country retreats we know (as long as you are not vegan). Contact: 01439 770766; www.fevershamarmshotel.com. B&B doubles from £140 for a studio room, rising to £295 for poolside suites. By Rob Ryan

THE DIAL HOUSE HOTEL, Bourton-on-the Water, Gloucestershire

I wanted to say being at this small Georgian country house feels more like staying in someone's home than a hotel. Except you're never going to be served whisky porridge in someone's home, are you? And the chances are slim of being invited to sleep in someone's home in the beautiful Cotswolds in a four-poster bed, where the wallpaper is so lush you want to stroke it and the couple running it are unfailingly considerate and where there is also a discrete (and discreetdining-room seating two in the gardens and all the food is sourced locally and cooked by a guy who just been happens to have been called a rising-star by Michelin. Nope, this place is not at all like someone's home. It's much classier. Contact: 01451 822244; www.dialhousehotel.com. B&B doubles from £110. By Chris West

BYFORDS, Holt, Norfolk

Take all the best bits of a bed-and-breakfast — friendly informality, piles of home-cooked food. Then lose the less appealing aspects — nylon sheets, musty bathrooms. The result is Byfords' "Posh B&B". Occupying a wonky-floored warren of buildings in the middle of the pretty market town of Holt, the nine rooms are wonderfully well equipped yet still feel homely. Photos of windswept local landscapes grace the brick-and-flint walls, making the Egyptian cotton and duck-down on the beds feel even more inviting. Don't linger too long in the morning, though — the "&B" is just as good, with local kippers, award-winning sausages and even a breakfast pizza. And to keep you going through the day, the deli downstairs churns out pastries and cakes with the stated aim of "keeping Norfolk curvy". On this evidence, it's in danger of making it sink beneath the North Sea. Contact: 01263 711400; www.byfords.org.uk. B&B doubles from £125. By Rob Kingston

THE GREAT HOUSE, Lavenham, Suffolk

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