Special Places to Stay - More than a bed for the night

For years they had been looking for an old house to restore, with lovely big trees and a pasture for a herd. Dick and Susan found it here, high on the Hook Peninsula, where there's history in hatfuls and unpopulated beaches. The charming family with "a weakness for old ruins" live in the big house down the drive; the kettle is always on. Grounds and gardens (the flagged kitchen garden is being restored) flow into each other, song birds abound, a peacock hops onto the window sill when the TV is on... timelessness and tranquillity prevail. Enter the hall, off which the kitchen lies: be cheered by a fresh pine-and-gingham feel, a big family table, a dear little area for children's books and toys. The sitting room is solidly, old-fashionedly comfortable, with log fires for winter nights; the bedrooms, the best upstairs, are carpeted, sweetly furnished, airy and light. The bathrooms are spotless but 'no-frills'– bring your potions and lotions! This is a place for buckets and spades, wellies and rods (with a boiler room for drying them). Shop and pub are two miles, beaches not much further, monasteries abound.