The Swan at Lavenham

At the centre of this old Suffolk wool town, The Swan is a Lavenham institution, but it's done a good job of reinventing itself over the years, blending the unique character of its ancient timbered building with a contemporary look in the rooms, up-to-date yet comfy public areas and an award-winning spa ('5 Bubbles' in The Good Spa Guide), whose sparkling and ultra-soothing facilities offer the chance to time-travel forward several centuries as you leave the creaky corridors of the main hotel.

The Swan has 47 bedrooms, ranging from the bottom-end Lavenham rooms to the Constable and Gainsborough suites. Not surprisingly, they come in all shapes and sizes, but most blend a modern sensibility with the heritage of the building, with contemporary headboards and splashes of colour that fit surprisingly well with the ancient beams and creaky floors. Almost all have baths (with showers), and all have Smart TVs, tea- and coffee-making facilities, complimentary water and biscuits, WiFi, Temple Spa toiletries, and are home to king-sized beds or bigger – apart from the Lavenham category, which predominantly has doubles. Oh, and a couple of the Gainsboroughs have four-posters, if you want to get properly into the character of the building. All rooms are dog-friendly, and pooches get a bowl and a treat on arrival. Finally, there are the extra rooms at Lavenham Priory, behind the hotel – perhaps an even old building than the hotel itself – where you can choose between a two-level suite and a three-bed self-contained apartment.

The hotel also has a small courtyard garden and a comfy lounge that wraps around most of the ground floor, plus a bar known as the 'Airmen’s Bar' for the US flyers who drank there during the war – some of whom, judging from the graffiti, have since returned for a visit. The Gallery restaurant is an atmospheric place to eat and serves an unashamedly fine-dining-style menu. If the rarified atmosphere and prices aren't to your taste, the Mess Call 487 Brasserie is less formal and serves more workaday food – – burgers, steaks, fish-and-chips, mussels and chips and suchlike. Refreshingly,  you can eat either menu in either space, as well as enjoying a fine afternoon tea in the brasserie or main lounge.

As for the location, Lavenham is one of Suffolk’s prime tourist destinations, and is also an excellent base for getting out into the historic corners of the county – to nearby Kersey, Hadleigh and Long Melford, and the abbey ruins and relative metropolitanism of Bury St Edmunds.