Cowley Manor, near Cheltenham
It can be difficult to tell sometimes whether a new hotel has garnered the column inches thanks to word-of-mouth exchanges among the chattering classes, or because of a sophisticated PR campaign. Whatever, new hoteliers Jessica Sainsbury and her husband Peter Frankopan have set tongues wagging with their conversion of this 19th-century Italianate mansion in wooded parkland in Gloucestershire. The exterior is classical, the interior distinctly modern, with 15 rooms in the main house and another 15 in the stable block.
Dark panelling has been replaced by lively splashes of colour - aubergine, lime green and vibrant pink. The bathrooms are huge, with blue glass walls, vast showers and deep baths. The C-side spa has indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a roof covered in lavender. A papier-mché zebra's bottom adorns the bar.
Where to book: 01242 870900, cowleymanor.com. Rooms from £205.
The Lugger, Portloe
Cornwall is not short of good upmarket (aka expensive) hotels. Some were surprised when this former smuggler's inn, which reopened last year after an extensive makeover, chose to pitch itself at the price levels of the Tresanton and St Enodoc. But it has much going for it.
The location is almost clichéd: the only building by the narrow harbour of a classic Cornish fishing village (the basement kitchen door opens on to the slipway where lobster boats sit above the waterline). The bedrooms are decorated in modern colours - white, cream with charcoal duvets - and the bathrooms are spacious.
In winter, drinks before dinner are taken in front of a roaring fire while the wooden-floored restaurant overlooks the harbour. The food is contemporary with generous helpings. The service is attentive, caring, even motherly - a welcome change from the brisk self-assurance of those Armani-clad young things who carry the trays in the hippest hotels.
Where to book: 01872 501322, luggerhotel.com. Half-board from £110pp.
Rossetti, Manchester
Show a developer an abandoned inner-city factory and more than likely you'll be shown plans for a new designer hotel. This Victorian textile factory on Manchester's Piccadilly is the latest such building to be given the treatment; this time by the fledgling Alias group, whose Hotel Barcelona in Exeter (a converted eye hospital, as it happens) is highly rated. There are no fears about minimalism at an Alias hotel: the style is bold, and not for the faint-hearted.
The decor is quirky: purple sofas with leopard-skin rugs, pop posters, art-house movies on a video wall. The beds are kingsize, and the bathrooms have deluge showers. The Café Paradiso has a wood-burning pizza oven and serves the Mediterranean food regarded as de rigueur in such establishments with dishes such as seared yellow tuna fish.
There is live music at weekends in the Basement, a bar/nightclub with a sunken dance floor. Alias hotels are aimed at those who want to go with the flow rather than hide themselves away.
Where to book: 0161-247 7744, aliasrossetti.com. Rooms from £95.
The Victoria Hotel, Holkham
Tom (Viscount Coke to you) and his wife Polly have breathed new life into an old pub on the Holkham estate of his father, the Earl of Leicester, within walking distance of the seven-mile beach used as the location for the last scene of Shakespeare in Love.
They have created that rarity: an unpretentious hotel combining real flair with reasonable prices. The style is Victorian colonial with Indian artefacts; soft colours, stone-flagged or wooden floors with sea-grass carpeting and not a hint of chintz. Comfort has not been sacrificed to designer style: the bar has velvet sofas and leather armchairs.
Another rarity is that children are welcomed: they have their own two-course menu and can romp in the garden. You need to book for the lively dining room, where the Thai fish cakes are spicy and moist. The service is unstuffy, casual yet efficient.
Where to book: 01328 711008, victoriaatholkham.co.uk. Rooms from £100.
Hotel du Vin & Bistro, Brighton
Groucho Club groupies from London may choose Blanch House as their Brighton hideaway, but it is the latest outpost of the Du Vin group that best combines style with service by the seaside.
It follows the group's successful formula: an interesting building, in this case a wine merchants' folly with a mock-Tudor design; striking public rooms - the lounge and bar are set in a high-ceilinged room which was once a nightclub and has a glass partition to the restaurant; brassy bedrooms with huge beds, Egyptian cotton sheets and freestanding baths; good food - the bistro serves a Mediterranean menu and has a real buzz, and the wine list is, of course, extensive with quaffable house wines many of which are offered by the glass.
The great strength of the group is that the level of service has been maintained through five hotel openings. The staff strike a happy balance between formality and friendliness.
Where to book: 01273 718588, hotelduvin.com. Rooms from £115.
