Deep in Suffolk fruit-farming country, this retreat hotel centres on the Great Barn, with rooms in barns and shepherds' huts, where eco-chic combines with modern comforts.

In a lovely Suffolk village, this wonky, yellow-painted, timber-frame inn is an inviting place, with log fires, appealing, characterful bedrooms, and a mix of pub classics and more adventurous dishes served in the bar, restaurant and alfresco.

Cranes, container ships, Holland-bound ferries … The views from this quayside Victorian hotel, with its striking iron-lace balcony overlooking the Stour and Orwell estuaries, are ocean-going, stirring, never dull.

In deepest Constable country, Wendy and Jim Sarton's characterful timber-frame manor house specialises in residential art courses; there is a large studio in the ground for workshops from tutors in various mediums. But even if you're not interested in taking a course, it's a great place for an 'extremely relaxing weekend'.

In the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB, this dog-friendly former coaching inn has rustic-chic and contemporary bedrooms, cosy spaces, modern dishes served by smiling young staff in a light-filled dining room and alfresco.

Moments from the beach, with 'sea views to the rear', a 19th-century commercial hotel lives anew as a restaurant, with rooms above.

'Our favourite hotel in the whole wide world,' writes a devotee of this seafront grande dame, run by the same family for 104 years.

The Milsom family's Victorian country house hotel in Dedham Vale, in the heart of Constable country, has been subtly rebranded with the addition of a spa by the pool house.

Occupying three 15th-century buildings in this picture-postcard wool town, the Swan blends modern comforts with original features in a wide choice of bedrooms, simple and adventurous cooking in the brasserie and lofty Gallery.