Six miles from Plymouth, an Elizabethan manor house with an award-winning spa in the grounds. Full of character, the original building retains its oak panelling, ornate ceilings, mullioned windows and stone archways. The fine-dining Gallery restaurant overlooks the beamed Great Hall, which features a coat of arms of King James I above an enormous stone fireplace. Accommodation ranges from the majestic, with four-poster beds, to more contemporary rooms situated in the courtyard and stable wings. Gaia spa has a pool, hydrotherapy pool, steam rooms and saunas, a relaxation room, gym and a salon with a wide choice of beauty treatments.

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.

A dramatic setting for weddings, family gatherings or a special celebration, the moorland views are just part of the allure of this isolated Georgian mansion, where former visitors are said to have included Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Was he inspired here to write The Hound of the Baskervilles? Possibly. No need to venture far, though. In 7 hectares of private gardens and grounds, the whole house is for hire on a self-catering basis and offers a pack of comforts. There’s a fully equipped farmhouse-style kitchen, leading out to a BBQ area with seating, a large dining room, relaxing lounge with log fire, a lobby and a games room with a pool table, darts, table tennis and football. The hot tub and infrared sauna make relaxing diversions. Twenty people can be accommodated in nine simply decorated bedrooms (extra beds can be arranged). One has a super-king four-poster, another a sleigh bed and ‘lovely view across the moor’.