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

Staying here is like staying with friends... who just happen to run one of Europe's most exquisite B&Bs. This traditional mansion, flecked with dazzling modernity, sitting beneath the walls of a 13th-century fort, is a place to feel stylishly at home. Andrew used to be picture editor for Marie-Claire, hence the chandelier that drips glass grapes above bohemian armchairs, or the hall table seemingly plucked from a Restoration play. Meanwhile, in a bucolic kitchen, Rupert rustles up geranium-infused panna cotta and olive-oil cake that taste like sunshine on the tongue, and are best enjoyed in the fabulous garden amid the luxuriant fronds and honeysuckle archways. The upstairs bedrooms are sea-light and breezy, one boasting a four-poster tapering to bud-like points, the other spreading around a pampering bed, whose elegant bedspread slips silkily over warm limbs. The cool downstairs double is served by its own outside entrance and all have warmly tiled bathrooms with thoughtful glass trolleys for busy wash bags. Throw open shutters and let in sun and birdsong, idle chatter and the clatter of lunchtime dominoes.