In a thriving village of gaily painted and ancient black-and-white houses, this hotel is set in a 15th-century merchant’s house-turned-coaching inn.

With white-painted walls and a peg-tiled roof, this ‘smartly renovated’ inn, one of Suffolk’s oldest pubs, stands in landscaped gardens that melt into Constable country.

A hip, jazzy refurbishment has brought stripped wooden floorboards, green velvet sofas and ‘small but effective pink touches’ to this Southwold stalwart, which has stood on the market square, minutes from the seafront, for centuries.

‘Unpretentious and friendly’, this creeper-covered inn is close to the unspoiled salt marshes of Dunwich Heath and the RSPB reserves at Dingle Marshes and Minsmere.

Coolly contemporary yet ‘warm and welcoming’, this updated 16th-century coaching inn is in the centre of an animated riverside town, within easy reach of the Suffolk coast.

Within a ten-minute drive – perhaps less as the crow flies – of the RSPB nature reserve at Minsmere, this updated 12th-century coaching inn makes a good base for birders, walkers, cyclists and seaside-seekers.