Thornbury Castle

‘It feels like you’re walking through the pages of a history book’ at this 16th-century castle, where everything from the bee skeps in the goodly garden to canopied four-posters is redolent of Tudor England. Built for Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, it has ‘some truly palatial parts’, with oriel windows, acres of wood panelling and enormous fireplaces. Henry VIII stayed in 1535 with Anne Boleyn after he had sent Buckingham to the scaffold and swiped the property. Fresh from a multi-million pound facelift it ‘now adds contemporary comfort to a historic stay’. Your ‘bedchamber’ might have arrow-slit windows in the bathroom along with a walk-in power shower. The 77-step spiral staircase to the Catherine of Aragon suite is ‘worth the climb for a magnificent bed big enough for Henry and several wives, and enormous bathroom, but even standard rooms are special’. Pre-dinner drinks are served in the double-height drawing room before an ‘elaborate dinner’ in the ‘atmospheric restaurant’. There was ‘good pea and wild garlic risotto, perfectly cooked fillet of beef’ but ‘you’ll need Henry’s appetite to finish six courses’. (JK)