Take a lush pastoral countryside filled with sunken lanes, rolling hills, unspoilt rural villages and thriving farmers' markets, mix with a spectacular heritage coastline rich in fossils and dotted with sandy beaches, liberally flavour with the writer Thomas Hardy, and you have a county that, once found, you will not want to part from. It offers only a few gems in terms of hotels and guesthouses, and here we tell you which ones they are. Don't be surprised not to find the much publicised Bull at Bridport on the list.... if our view 'Dorset's first boutique hotel' (what a thought) doesn't cut the mustard; location-wise there are much lovelier places, equally comfortable. The order by which the hotels are listed bears no reflection on our preference.

Written by Fiona Duncan