I could spend hours sitting in Lavenham Priory's old Great Hall just soaking up the atmosphere of this impressive Elizabethan merchant's home, which began life in the 13th century as a Benedictine priory. It's an absolutely superb room with its stone-flagged floor, huge sofas drawn round the massive stone fireplace, and beams patterning the simple white walls rising to the rafters.
Bedrooms enjoy the same airy spaciousness and are furnished to utter perfection.