Guests find a jar of homemade cookies in their rooms, which is just one of the fun quirks of this intimate boutique hotel in a former convent, a stroll from Alnwick Castle. Owner Debbie Cook has created a charming hotel with 'pleasant and helpful service', and a modern country-house feel of stripped-wood floors, leather armchairs and chic shades-of-blue colour scheme. Geometric-patterned fabrics are mixed with bright-orange Penguin classics in the lounge. In the light and elegant dining room, framed collections of cutlery hang on walls, while pieces of blue-and-white glassware and pottery catch the eye. Bedrooms continue the blue theme with an uncluttered style that mixes vintage and modern. Some overlook the castle, others have cosy sloping ceilings, while the extraordinary Chapel Suite offers a copper bath beneath stained-glass windows. A reader staying in Dunstanburgh which looks onto the road, was pleasantly surprised to find that 'although it was hot, and we had the windows open, we were not disturbed at all'. Dine on modern British food such as poached trout with brown crab and samphire or wild mushroom gnocchi. Breakfast, eaten overlooking the garden, includes poached egg and avocado, kippers, or home-made granola, 'a luscious fruit and nut loaded extravagance'. (Harry Medcalf)