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.

Dramatic moorland views are part of the allure at this isolated Georgian mansion, where former guests are said to have included Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

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.

In sub-tropical gardens across from Gyllyngvase Beach, a contemporary spa hotel taking inspiration from the Cornish coast. Comfortable bedrooms are decorated in tones of blue, with nautical touches; bathrooms have robes and good quality toiletries. Mediterranean-style fine cuisine is served in the Garden Kitchen; less formal dining is in Brasserie on the Bay, which has dazzling views of the sea. The spa has a large heated indoor swimming pool, Jacuzzi, sauna, a steam room, treatments and a well-equipped gym.