1 St Briavel’s Castle, Gloucestershire
WHAT Stay in a Norman-era castle – built as a hunting lodge for King John in 1205 – where you can get stuck into regular medieval banquets and take advantage of hostel staples such as cheap dorm beds and self-catering kitchen. Also a great base for exploring the nearby Forest of Dean.
SEE yha.org.uk; dorm beds from around £20pn
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2 Beverley Friary, East Yorkshire
WHAT Step back in time and find this old friary around the cobbled lanes and Victorian terraces of Beverley, a quintessentially English market town near Hull. Find old-world local charm at ancient pubs including The White Horse, sporting Victorian-era gas lighting. If you’re up for a late one, check out student standbys Piper and Spiders in Hull.
SEE yha.org.uk; dorm beds from around £16.40pn
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3 Journeys Dover Hostel, Kent
WHAT Once both the first and last pub to be encountered in England – thanks to its location at the foot of the white cliffs of Dover – this 550-year-old building is now a conveniently located hostel complete with the ghost of a former landlord and ancient memorabilia adorning the walls.
SEE visitjourneys.com; dorm beds from around £11.99pn
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4 Hotel Pelirocco, Brighton
WHAT Themed rooms at this cute indie hotel include the ‘Playroom’, complete with pole dancing area. But perhaps strangest of all is the ‘Do Knit Disturb’ room, where almost everything is knitted from wool. Cushions, lampshades, and even a tube of toothpaste have been crocheted. About 5kg of yarn was used to k(n)it the place out. Crazy, but cosy.
SEE hotelpelirocco.co.uk; from £55pn
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5 The Old Railway Station, West Sussex
WHAT Sleep in a real Pullman train carriage – think the luxurious likes of the Orient Express – sans the motion sickness. In a disused local station yard, four restored carriages contain eight suites sporting the original colonial-era decor. The neighbouring South Downs keep with the refined theme and make a lovely spot for quiet country walks among photogenic chalk hills.
SEE old-station.co.uk; from £114pn
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6 The Egyptian House, Cornwall
WHAT: The somewhat incongruous Egyptian House stands in a row of typical 18th-century townhouses on Chapel Street in Penzance. The garish façade – as bright as it is bizarre – was a style in vogue after Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt around 1798. It has now been separated into three flats sleeping up to four people in each.
SEE: landmarktrust.org.uk; from £177pn
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7 The Pineapple, Dunmore, Scotland
WHAT Oddly enough, this two-storey summerhouse built for the fourth Earl of Dunmore in 1777 is of a perfectly orthodox style at the ground, only to segue into a pineapple-shaped dome at the top. This fruity quirk is apparently the result of the Earl’s time as Governor of Virginia, where sailors traditionally put a pineapple on the gatepost to announce their return home. Thus, the Earl announced his return in a similar, though slightly more eccentric, manner. You can now stay within The Pineapple and enjoy access to a private, walled garden.
SEE landmarktrust.org.uk; rooms from £208pn
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8 The Pigsty, North Yorkshire
WHAT Lay your head in a former pigsty at Robin Hood’s Bay, a pretty seaside spot near Whitby. While it might not sound like the most ritzy of abodes, it is actually an elegant exercise in 19th-century Mediterranean classicism, built by an eccentric country squire in the 1880s. Architectural embellishments include a handsome set of timber columns at the entry. Thanks to The Landmark Trust and a few modifications, now you can sleep in the sty, from which there is an unparalleled view of the famous bay.
SEE landmarktrust.org.uk; from £100pn
