Betwixt seafront and town centre, Peter Howey and Steve Courtney’s B&B in a Georgian townhouse has high-tech entertainment and a pretty courtyard garden with water features, illuminated at night. Set over five floors, the pristine bedrooms are provided with a smart TV with Catch Up, a wireless mobile phone charging pad, and a laptop safe. DVDs may be borrowed. Laid out in the smart breakfast room find a continental buffet, or choose a full English, freshly cooked.

An elegantly updated Queen Anne-style mansion in lovely gardens. Lavish afternoon teas are served on the terrace, fine dinners in an oak-panelled room. Soothing treatments for face, body and nails can be booked. Guildford Station is a 10 minutes’ drive.

An historic coaching inn opposite Laughton village green, seven miles from Lewes. Rooms are in a sympathetically converted stable block. Hearty pub grub and an extensive range of beers, wines and gin is served in the interesting bar and dining room, or in the large pub garden with an outdoor bar and children’s play area.

Near the Pantiles, a former brewery and school house is now a modern hotel with sophisticated, neutral-toned bedrooms and suites (some in the neighbouring Townhouse are more contemporary and have a separate entrance). Breakfast is buffet-style. Informal dining as well as a la carte menus are served in Seventeen restaurant. Situated by Cumberland Walk, al fresco morning snacks, cocktails, and light bites can be enjoyed on The Terrace.

In the thick of things, a large, modern hotel on the cobbled high street. Public spaces are vibrantly furnished or bright with colourful prints. Food and drink is available throughout the day; HarSpa has a whirlpool, sauna, steam room and small open-air heated pool.

Close to the station, a hotel and restaurant inside a Grade II-listed 18th-century sandstone mansion. Intimate and clubby, there is an open fire in the bar, and Gallic-influenced dishes in the informal restaurant; alfresco dining on the terrace. Modern bedrooms (some overlooking Calverley Park) have plenty of perks: a capsule coffee machine, fluffy bathrobes, chic toiletries for indulgent bathing. Within walking distance of the Pantiles.

Fifteen mimutes’ walk from the centre of Sevenoaks, Sarah and Ian Stockbridge’s extended brick-built house has self-contained B&B accommodation with spacious bedrooms and a sitting room for guests to share. One room at the front overlooks woodland and Knole Park (NT) where the occasional deer can be glimpsed; another has views over the south-facing garden. The thoughtful hosts provide tea and cake on arrival. For breakfast, cereals, seasonal fruit and yogurt are followed by a full English and served in the dining area of the sitting room, which has glass doors opening onto a terrace with outdoor seating.

Walking distance from the attractions of South Kensington, this ‘elegant yet hip, fun’ hotel is ‘conveniently located’ for museum-hoppers and shop-till-you-droppers.

In fifteen acres of landscaped grounds, a red-brick Queen Anne mansion that was originally built for the Churchill family. Afternoon tea is served in The Polo Bar and Lounge or outside on the terrace. FORK restaurant (casual dining), and some of the modern bedrooms have views over the lovely garden, where outdoor activities include a croquet lawn, tennis courts, shooting hoops and giant snakes and ladders. Part of Exclusive Collection.

‘On arrival we discovered that our package included afternoon tea, which we enjoyed before a concert at Cadogan Hall.’

Just across the bridge in Eton, this refurbished Georgian inn is on a corner of the high street. Simply furnished bedrooms have wood furniture, comfortable beds and crisp bedlinen; some rooms have a view of Windsor Castle or the river. The pub dishes and daily blackboard specials are cooked using local, seasonal produce, much of it sourced from the royal farm estate. At the rear, the inn’s owners (Windsor and Eton Brewery) have created a smart decked garden for eating and drinking outside in warmer months.

Ten minutes from Ascot Racecourse, this 18th-century red-brick pub is a cert for equine devotees and rural inn-seekers alike. There are nooks and crannies, tweedy fabrics. original stone floors and a welcoming open fire in cooler months. Some of the comfortable bedrooms have views over the peaceful garden which has plenty of seating and a cosy Cabana for the ultimate outdoor dining experience. Traditional pub fare is supplemented with dishes such as Wild Boar sausages, mash, lentils and savoy cabbage or braised rabbit, mustard root vegetables and tarragon.