What's a good (mid-priced) acoustic guitar to buy?

I know this sounds like a stupid question from a professional musician, but the truth is I’ve always been a songwriter, not a guitarist. Guitars were a necessary tool, but nothing more.

So it’s not surprising (for me anyway) that I do not in fact have a “dream guitar” that I would buy if I could afford it. I could easily tell you what car, bike, or even shoes I’d buy if I had the money, but I’m not sure about guitars.

In the past (for most of my career in fact) I played an Ovation, and also owned a Fender, a Yamaha and a couple of Ekos as well as various electric guitars, bases etc. I also had an amazingly beautiful (but utterly useless) handmade guitar, which I let my daughters play with.

Recently I started looking for something a bit better, that would last me a few years and have a good sound. I can’t afford the top range Gibsons (over $3000) but I could go a little over $1000 if it was good value for money.

Any opinions?