The shipbuilders, boozy sailors and notorious Tenterden smuggling gang that once formed the clientele of this 18th-century watering hole have been replaced by peace-seeking travellers bent on finding a decent meal.

In a ‘little, old, cobble-stoned, grass-grown, red-roofed town, on the summit of its mildly pyramidal hill’ (as described by former Rye resident Henry James), the George presents the street front of a Georgian coaching inn.

‘Great to cross over the road to an incredible beach where you can stroll for miles,’ writes a reader who spent ‘a great weekend’ at Harry Cragoe’s restaurant-with-rooms.

Trusted friends of the Guide rated this boutique B&B, on the fringe of the Old Town, ‘the nicest’ they had stayed in.

‘Possibly the friendliest place I have ever stayed in,’ writes a reader in 2019, of Brendan McDonagh’s ‘exquisitely beautiful’ Tudor black-and-white B&B in a quiet Old Town cul-de-sac.

A short walk from the seafront, photographer Shahriar Mazandi has created an artistic, eco-friendly B&B.

Brimming with an ‘interesting collection’ of curios from far-flung lands, Max O’Rourke’s characterful seafront hotel is both ‘splendidly quirky’ and ‘utterly relaxed’.