You don't have to blow a fortune to stay at this relaxed yet refined hotel in some converted barns, the former home of Langham Glass, and featuring many charming nods to its heritage.

Agatha Christie memorabilia, murder-mystery weekends and Art Deco touches set the tone at Hugh and Emma Asher's creeper-clad hotel, former home of the author's doctor friends, in a bustling market town.

Roses festoon this family and dog-friendly 17th-century pub with rooms, in a thriving village close to the RSPB's Snettisham Nature Reserve.

This Tudor coaching inn in a picturesque village at the heart of Dedham Vale, now part of the Chestnut Group, blends historic features with modern comforts, while a changing menu of inventive dishes is served in the dining room and landscaped garden.

A favourite hangout of the England football team, the former home of Lord Louis Mountbatten has contemporary bedrooms, cosseting suites, a good choice of eating and drinking spaces, and a magnificent spa.

On the north Norfolk coast, Thornham's saltmarshes and unspoiled beaches are a paradise for birdwatchers and walkers. Every bit as blissful, this chic bolthole with a garden hot tub is near the town's artisan shops, restaurants and pubs.

Swans glide on the millpond at chef/patron Lee Bye's former watermill in 12 acres of meadowland, with rustic-chic bedrooms, some with a patio, Scandi-cool suites, a hot tub in the meadow, and exciting use of local and home-grown produce in the oak-beamed restaurant among the mill's workings.

The wonky charms of this timber-frame 15th-century coaching inn combine with smart bedrooms retaining original features, and estate-to-plate dining in the bar, restaurant and courtyard.

On a Georgian square overlooking a green, this former coaching inn and popular local drop-in offers an interesting choice of bedrooms, dog-friendly dining and a mix of pub classics and modern dishes.

Perfect for a country weekend, this 17th-century thatched pub close to Newmarket has contemporary, rustic-chic bedrooms in a 'barn', beams, bar stools, banquettes and bare boards, superior pub grub, and a separate menu for your pooch.

The views from this quayside Victorian hotel overlooking the Stour and Orwell estuaries are ocean-going and full of action, while the industrial-chic ground-floor bar is the place for small plates, ales and interesting gins, the first-floor brasserie for fish and shellfish landed almost on the doorstep, the comfy bedrooms for a great night's sleep.

There is 'an air of a chic curiosity shop' about this singular hotel with café/deli, centred on a Palladian-style villa, up a narrow lane, where resident cats sun themselves on the front lawn.

On the market square, this 18th-century inn with onsite brewery has jazzy house bedrooms in dolly-mixture colours with pencil-point four-posters, annexe rooms surrounding a coastal garden with views to the lighthouse, Adnams beers in the Tap Room, pub classics and contemporary seasonal fare in the Still Room, and a general joie de vivre.

There is a relaxed ambience at this family-owned hotel overlooking Parker's Piece, with smart contemporary bedrooms (some dog friendly, some with French doors to the garden), a restaurant serving large and small plates, and spa treatments.

A superb base for exploring the surrounding Norfolk Broads, this country-house hotel in a red-brick Georgian building has a private lake and gardens on the River Bure as well as a spa and fine-dining restaurant.

On the Holkham Estate, close to unspoilt beaches, this Victorian inn is now a hotel and restaurant with individually styled bedrooms set across two buildings, cosy spaces to relax in, and a menu of seasonal produce from the estate and walled garden, with locally shot game, and fish from Norfolk waters.

With rustic-chic accommodation in barns and shepherds' huts, an organic kitchen garden supplying inventive menus in the Great Barn restaurant, and a spa and gym, this hotel in fruit-farming country is an ideal place to relax and recharge.