In this Grade II listed building at the foot of the castle, tastefully decorated bedrooms are supplied with sparkling water, a pack of chocolate chip cookies, chocolates, and even a glass of sherry; most overlook the cobbled high street. Breakfasts are fresh and varied. In the evenings, guests are welcome to enjoy their own food or a takeaway in the bar (plates, glasses, cutlery, and the washing up! are all provided). There’s also a deli next door, and numerous eateries and bars nearby.

Set up as a training centre for RNLI volunteers, this purpose-built structure overlooks Holes Bay in Poole Harbour. Alongside crew members, visitors can stay in comfortable, jauntily decorated bedrooms (each with a double bed, work desk, seating and stunning view of the harbour). Breakfast and bistro food is served in the light and cheerful Riggers restaurant facing the waterfront; the Slipway bar has drinks and nibbles. Tours of the facility (which include a wave tank and simulator) can be pre-arranged. Every £1 spent goes towards providing equipment, training, and support for those saving lives at sea.

Set in seven acres of beautiful grounds, a historic house listed in the Domesday Book, and once owned by Elizabeth I’s Lord Treasurer, Lord Burghley. Rebuilt in 1840, it still features an original fireplace in the galleried hall. Casual dining, snacks and afternoon tea are served in the Restaurant and on the large terrace overlooking the garden. The hotel is in the village of Stanton Saint Quintin, four miles from Chippenham.

In Plympton St Maurice, on the edge of the city, this Georgian manor was once a convent. Now a hotel and events venue, tranquillity remains in calming, modern bedrooms and in the surrounding nine acres of gardens and sweeping lawns. Local and regionally sourced produce appears on the restaurant’s fine dining menus: perhaps curried white crab with pea panna cotta, pink grapefruit and fresh pea shoots; Tournedos Rossini – fillet of Devon beef on crispy crouton with chicken liver parfait, dauphinoise potato, wild mushroom and baby onion jus.

Roaming peacocks add a colourful note to the setting of this country house hotel near Liskeard. Within its 40-acre grounds, roaming guests will discover ornamental ponds, fishing lakes, barbecue areas, woodland walks and a horse-riding school. In the bar and airy restaurant, there are flagstone floors, beamed ceilings and open log fires. Two of the well-quipped, traditionally furnished bedrooms are ideal for a family; some rooms have a four-poster bed.