Tucked away in an Old Town cul-de-sac, a short stroll from the seafront, this early Tudor black-and-white house is run as a welcoming B&B. There’s no reception – guests step straight into an open-plan lounge/breakfast room, with beamed ceilings, blonde linen sofas, big open fire and an honesty bar that pretends it’s a bookcase. Owner Brendan McDonagh is ‘entirely likeable, soft-spoken, welcoming’ – he was ‘very solicitous to a lone woman guest, talking about where she might go and what she might like to see’. In the same way, he happily advises on places for dinner. Pleasing designer touches are the work of his partner, Lionel Copley, owner of the nearby, more flamboyant, Old Rectory, Hastings (see previous entry). A ground-floor bedroom looks on to a pretty patio garden, while, on the top floor, two adjoining rooms with a roof terrace comprise the Renaissance Suite. Church Room overlooks the tower of St Clement’s. All rooms have vintage furnishings, good bedlinen, beams, wonky floor. At a table laid with fresh flowers, breakfast, cooked by Brendan, includes local free-range eggs, kippers, smoked haddock, home-made ‘baked beans’, local strawberry and pomegranate jam.