A photogenic street of cobblestone and gently listing cross-beamed houses hosts this ‘beautiful, comfortable and relaxing’ B&B, once a haunt of Malcolm Lowry and Radclyffe Hall. A reader was made to ‘feel special and very welcome’ by owner Jenny Hadfield and her staff. While you can unload your car in front of the ivy-covered property, parking is a six-minute walk away (‘straightforward once you got used to the route’). The atmospheric parlours of the former 17th-century wool storehouse have oil paintings, a blazing fire, antiques and clusters of seating, ideal for a drink from the honesty bar. Stairs, described by the owners as ‘somewhat medieval’, take visitors to the ‘pretty, old-fashioned (but not tired) bedrooms’. The Elizabeth Fry room, where the prison reformer once slept, has an antique four-poster; the Conrad Aitken, the American novelist’s former study, has a large bay window, four-poster and adjoining double room. Views are of Romney Marsh or Rye’s rooftops; the ‘well-equipped bathrooms’ might have a roll-top bath. Mornings bring Richard Martin’s ‘exquisitely good breakfasts’, served in the galleried former chapel, once the meeting place of the Rye Quakers. (A and CB)