TOP ENGLISH SEASIDE HOTELS

The Hotel du Vin Poole stands tucked away behind the quayside that sends boats out to Brownsea Island. You'd have to know this august brick manor house was there to find it. Once found however it reveals itself as an ideal place to base yourself in this summer. Sandbanks, a lovely stretch of British beach is just three miles away and Poole Park (opened by the Prince of Wales in 1890) is just around the corner.

Like so many of the Hotels du Vin, the Poole venue is a striking old building converted with flair. It was built originally by Issac Lester (1718-78) a hard-working but sharp-tongued merchant who ran the the Poole end of a long trading route to Newfoundland. By 1776 Isaac felt he was wealthy enough to build a new family home though he only enjoyed it for two years before his death.

The Mansion House on Thame Street is a fine imposing building, luckily with parking to the rear (this quarter of Poole was built long before there were such things as motor cars) .On the grand staircase up to reception there is one of Gary Myatt's superb Hotel du Vin murals, this one depicting sailors on shore leave meeting up with some saucy local ladies. Myatt has decorated most of the Hotels du Vin and his hyperrealism is a delight. I particularly like his Burke and Hare in Edinburgh and his cabal of Roman assassins in the private dining room of York's Hotel du Vin.

Upstairs there are 38 bedrooms all decorated with that robust yet slightly arch Hotel du Vin style, this time with plenty of New England clapboard and various nautical touches. This is the most self-consciously maritime of the 17 Hotels du Vin, -even more so than Brighton- and it shows.

The bistro, in what was once old Isaac's cellar is, like all HdV bistrots, decorated with what might be called instant nicotine-stain on the walls. The surf and turf menu is superb. You can also dine outside in the summer on a small terrace. All in all a splendid place to stay if you want to explore the Dorset coastline.

Ventnor on the Isle of Wight is a pretty little town with a small beach and a Smugglers' Inn sitting on the English Channel. It was of no significance at all until 1866 when the railways arrived and it became possible to cross Britain's second largest island from the ferry port at Ryde in just 25 minutes. Suddenly Ventnor with its warm, fresh microclimate took off as a tourist destination, especially for those were recovering from consumption and couldn't afford the mountain air of Switzerland. Charles Dickens – himself in rude health - took a holiday nearby when writing David Copperfield and claimed the views were “ only equalled by shores found in the Mediterranean.”

Even before the resort came to national prominence, there was a hotel at the top of the cliffs above Ventnor. The Royal was founded in 1832, and its name is supposedly derived from Queen Victoria, grand daughter of the famous sea-bathing king calling in to take tea. In the 1840s the Queen and her Prince Consort Albert built a family home on the island. Osbourne House remained her favourite home even after the prince's death in 1861. Its presence gave tourism to the Isle of Wight an indirect royal endorsement.

The Royal was constructed from two solid three-storey townhouses with an archway for carriages running between them. That passageway has now been glassed over, making a conservatory entrance with the words “Royal” and “Hotel” on either side what looks like the coat of arms of St George. Inside, the hotel has 51 bedrooms, an understated modern bar and an overstated dining room with blue stripes and gold leaf that recalls the neoclassical 1830s.

Guests can walk down to the beach, take it easy in the hotel gardens or try something a little more exciting on a modern rib that the hotel has just bought. If you haven't tried bounding round the British coastline in a rib then you do not know what it is to be truly wet but this high speed dinghy bouncing by at 45 knots is a perfect way to see the coastline of the Isle of Wight. The hotel even throws in champagne and salmon sandwiches to make your afternoon truly memorable.

Guernsey, with its warm climate, sandy beaches and scenic cliff walks has had a long history of tourism. People also come here to look at the old British fortifications from when we fought Napoleon, and the more recent German fortifications left over from their years of occupation during World War II. These days more than 100 cruise ships a year dock at St Peter Port, bringing an additional 100,000 daytrippers on to this holiday island.

There are many places to stay across the island but OId Government House above St Peter Port is one of the best. This imposing stone structure dates back to 1796 when it was the official residence of the Governor who administered Guernsey, Alderney, Herm and Sark. The last Lieutenant Governor to live in as Government House was General Sir James Douglas who fought with Wellington in the Peninsula War. Since 1858 it has functioned as a hotel. Life was always gracious for visitors to Guernsey right up until 1940 when it was taken over as General Staff Headquarters of the victorious German Army who held the Channel Islands until May 1945. Adolf Hitler was convinced that British pride meant that the Channel Islands would be liberated before any attack was made on France so he poured men and concrete into the island. At one point there was one German soldier for every Guernsey civilian. The massive concrete bunkers never fired a shot in anger however, as the D-Day landings bypassed the Channel Islands entirely.

Today these massive coastal fortifications are worth visiting while staying at OGH (as it is known locally).You should also walk down to the harbour and think about taking a boat to the other islands, each of which have their own distinct charm .

Lyme Regis was once a busy port on Dorset's Jurassic Coast but almost continual war with France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries- and the lack of a natural deepwater port- led to its decline. It was rescued commercially by the new fashion for sea-bathing that was given royal support by George III who, from 1789, took annual recuperative trips to the British coast.

Keen to see Lyme rise again, this time as a sea-bathing resort, local landowner Thomas Hollis developed much of the semi-derelict town and created “The Walk”, a public promenade out to the old Tudor harbour (known as the Cobb). Hollis also built the Assembly Rooms at the bottom of Broad Street on the site of some abandoned warehouses. By the time Jane Austen visited Lyme Regis with her mother and father, in 1803 and 1804, Hollis' attempts to create a resort were paying off handsomely. The Assembly Rooms where Jane liked to dance were perched romantically on the harbour wall with the sea breaking beneath them.

The success of Lyme Regis in Victorian times led to the building of many holiday homes and a few hotels here. Up on the cliffs above Lyme, the “Alex”, as it is known locally, actually predated all this development. It was built in 1735 as a home for the Dowager Countess Poulett and was later the residence of the Anglo-French aristoctratic Duc de Stacpoole. The house has superb views over the Cobb and a serene, tree-lined garden. No wonder in 1901 it became a hotel.

There are 24 bedrooms, a sweet little forecourt as befits the retirement home of a countess, and a freestanding chapel that is currently being restored. In the mornings there is nothing lovelier than the stroll down Pound Street to Broad Street and as far as the Cobb, although you'll notice the climb on your way back. Jane wrote to her sister that Broad Street was so steep it was "almost hurrying into the water”.

At the Cobb itself – a wonder of Tudor engineering – take in the beached fishing boats and pause to reflect how this harbour wall found its way into two critical scenes in English literature, John Fowles' The French Lieutenant's Woman and Jane Austen's Persuasion. Lyme is the place for a literary seaside holiday.

Opened in 1900, the statuesque Headland Hotel rises up above the Atlantic Ocean the lair of some wealthy eccentric. Not surprisingly the Headland was “cast” as Hotel Excelsior in the film version of Roald Dahl's The Witches (1990). Angelica Huston played the Grand High Witch – despite Roald Dahl's objections - and Rowan Atkinson played the hotel manager. During a break in filming Atkinson left the bath taps running in his room and flooded the floor below. When hotel staff banged on his door the actor replied, “Go away, I'm asleep!”. Evidently the flood wrote off much of the production team's electrical equipment.

The hotel had a similarly dramatic start in life. While it was being built in 1897, local fishermen attacked the foundations because they claimed the hotel was being built on common land where they had dried their nets for generations. This incident became known as the Newquay Riots. Fortunately when this imposing hotel was opened in 1900 it was able to attract the future Edward VII and Queen Alexandra to stay and earlier objections were set aside.

Situated on an actual headland west of Newquay the Headland stands four square on the South West Coastal Path which makes it great for walkers. It's also just above Fistral Beach, which houses Rick Stein's Fistral restaurant so it's good for bathers and gourmands too.

Clovelly is a small harbour village in Devon with a steep, pedestrianised cobbled main street, so steep in fact that the only transport is on sledges pulled by donkeys. The village is still owned by the Rous family, descendants of the Hamlyns who have been lords of Clovelly Court since 1738. The family also owns the village's two hotels, the New Inn at the top and the Red Lion, 400' below on the harbour. This large, eighteenth century “beer house” was – and still is - a meeting point for Clovelly's sailors. In Charles Kingsley's Westcountry novel, Westward Ho! it features as the birthplace of the mariner, Salvation Yeo.

The hotel has 17 bedrooms with 11 in the old whitewashed inn. These all have views either to the Bristol Channel or the small harbour. There are six further bedrooms in the Sail Loft, a recent outbuilding conversion.

The South West Coast Path National Trail runs at from the top of the village and the day's walk from Clovelly to Hartland Quay is lovely, but you may chose to stay and just look at the old harbour and feed the seagulls. Why not? You're on holiday.