Bear Hotel, Woodstock

Exposed beams, four-poster beds, elegant antique furniture and… ghosts! The 900-year-old Bear hotel in Woodstock has got character by the bucketful and some say you may well come across its two resident spooks if you are very good. Owners Macdonald Hotels have sensitively decorated this 13th-century coaching inn so that it has retained all of its historic charm but is still pleasingly luxurious. The bar area, with its huge roaring fire, traditional wooden tables and chairs and cozy carpet is the epitome of how every American imagines an English pub to be like and it's a wonder anyone ever leaves to explore the surrounding pretty village of Woodstock. But they must – if only to meander up to nearby glorious stately home Blenheim Palace, Churchill's birthplace and a fabulous day out.