Restoration drama: The UK's best hotels in renovated buildings

Blackened beams, low doors … chrome and glass, a beach ball. Some of the finest hotels and B & B, created in old buildings with modern

Crisis? What Crisis? When others are gloomy about the economy stagnated, British hoteliers show such a vision and energy, that if the value for other companies, could actually bring it around. Among the 50 new hotels in this year's edition of Good Hotel Guide, a common theme is a rejuvenation. In this model: to find an interesting run-down building, renovate the imagination, and then run it on the energy and enthusiasm …

Cary Arms, Babbacombe, Devon

Next to the beach below the steep close to Torquay, this small hotel has been given a modern makeover with nautical theme Lana de Savary. He has developed its informal Inn bar / dining room, which faces the sea, the stone walls, wood and tile floors and wooden tables in small alcoves. Beach Garden is a covered dining area and a glass pod in the wedding, the bedrooms are in the New England coast and interior views of the bay.
Price: B & B £ 77.50-£ 130pp, dinner £ 35
The book is: 01803 327 110; caryarms.co.uk

Foresters Arms, Graffham, West Sussex

Price: B & B £ 35 – £ 75pp, dinner £ 32

Team is a peculiar Zetter in Clerkenwell has changed the two Georgian townhouses in St John's Square should be more intimate but no less quirky hotel. Designers created the narrative: that it was once the home of a fictional eccentric aunt. Every surface in his "collection": pictures, antique pottery, bronze, old postcards, stuffed kangaroo. It could easily have gone wrong, but the concept works because it is performed with wit and flair. The smaller rooms on the third floor, where the bedheads made to save an amusement park carousel, is a pleasure.
Price: Room £ 222 – £ 480, breakfast £ 9.50-£ 17.50

Three Horseshoes, Radnage, Buckinghamshire

This 18th-century pub (low doors, worn tiles, blackened beams) in a quiet valley of the Chiltern has been developed Country Inn and the restaurant's chef / patron Simon Crawshaw. He has created four well-appointed bedrooms in the old building, the ingenious use of space, and two modern garden rooms in the annexe has its own terrace. Plus, there are some great views of a restaurant.
Price: £ 45 – £ 75pp, dinner £ 21 – £ 40

Penbontbren, Glynarthen, Ceredigion

Experienced hotel industry, Richard Morgan-Price and Huw Thomas has radically reconfigured the former hotel into a luxury country house B & B, turning what was a 10 bedroom converted farm buildings into five beautiful suites, which is comprehensively equipped. Everyone has a spacious living room and private terrace with tables and chairs. Breakfast is taken in another converted barn.

Book it: 01239 810248; penbontbren.com

Jeff Gillard and his young, friendly staff is an old-fashioned atmosphere of this free-form tree-clad hotel has been renovated in chic New England style, with lots of wood and a stunning curved staircase. It is a beach – a big tide, the sea tractors, overlooking the estuary – and the more expensive rooms in the front (facing the sea) are the best. There is a bar and restaurant overlooking the beach – it's just a pity that the sounds of the sea are inundated with throbbing music in the background.

The book is: 01548 859 000; southsands.com

This alternative base for your stay in London. Young's Brewery has turned to a former metal factory in the back of a Victorian pub into a stylish, modern accommodation in the rooms. A separate entrance down the cobbled alley, a brick-and-glass building has a smart lounge and a small seating area. The bar / restaurant, you can subscribe to parts of the generous good gastropub food, and breakfast is served until 11 am on weekends, allowing you a good lie-in. Visitors are encouraged to arrive by train: Alma is close to Wandsworth station (15 minutes by train from Waterloo).
Price: B & B £ 85 – £ 130pp, dinner £ 47
The book is: 020 8870 2537; thealma.co.uk

Black Rock House, in Hastings, East Sussex

Simple attention to detail is characteristic of this smart Victorian house restoration pompous turrets near the sea. Tracey-Anne Cook, and Lesley Russell Dean to run the happy style as a luxury B & B, handsome bedrooms have been coordinated by color, rich beds, matching chairs and a free-standing dark-wood furnishings, and a large part of producing an excellent breakfast sourced from local farmers or producers.

Price: B & B £ 45 – £ 80pp, dinner £ 28

Restoration drama: The UK's best hotels in renovated buildings

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