The appeal of "cool" Cornwall has produced more boutique hotels per square mile than almost anywhere else outside London. But all that beach-chic décor and stainless steel can you leave you longing for a bit of homely porcelain and French polish; less of the minimalism, more florals, granny-print wallpaper and loose covers on lived-in armchairs. Lesley Gillilan, author of the new Best of Britain guide to Cornwall (published this week by Crimson, £12.99) picks a handful of Cornwall's un-hip hotels and proper Cornish guest houses – all under £100 a night.
1. Old Vicarage, Morwenstow
Not any old vicarage, but the former home of eccentric Reverend Steven Hawker, the opium-toking author of Cornwall's national anthem, The Song of Western Men; a man who occasionally dressed up as a mermaid and kept a pet pig. He built this rambling rectory in 1834, crowning each of its five Gothic chimneys with a replica of a church tower he had loved. Thanks to owners Jill and Richard Wellby and a Grade II-listing, the old place is left much as it was, offering three homely guest rooms, a billiard room, and a book-lined library. In Morwenstow, right on the Devon border, check out the churchyard where the Reverend buried some 40 shipwrecked souls and, on the coast path nearby, Hawker's Hut – the National Trust's smallest property.
• B&B £80 per room per night. +44 (0)1288 331369, rshawker.co.uk
2. Lower House, Callington
Peter and Tessa Sulston's guesthouse is a beautifully restored Georgian number in downtown Callington - a slice of "real provincial Cornwall" they say. It has a farmers' market, a mural trail (17 buildings daubed with trompe l'oeil scenery) and easy access to the wilds of East Cornwall: explore the Tamar Valley or climb nearby Kit Hill (for one of the best views in the county). You get king-size oak beds, pale but interesting décor and optional art courses held in a coach house in the garden. Home-cooked meals are on offer (at £12.50 per person) or eat out at award-winning Langmans just down the road.
• B&B £60 per double per night. +44 (0)1579 383491, lower-house.com
3. House on the Props, Polperro
In south Cornwall's prettiest fishing village, part of this house is propped on stilts – a wing of the building overhangs the Pol River. On the ground floor, overlooking Roman Bridge, there's a restaurant and patisserie decked out with masts and beams from the shipwrecked Maverine, circa 1700. Up top, there are three small bedrooms (antiques, boaty décor, sloping floors) two of which have views of the harbour through mullioned windows. The town carpark is half a mile away (Polperro's winding lanes are car free) but the sea, the South West coast path, and the salty Blue Peter pub are just around the corner.
• B&B £70 per double per night (from Easter onward). +44 (0)1503 272310, houseontheprops.co.uk
4. Bedknobs, Bodmin
On the western edge of Bodmin Moor, it's not the best-looking town, but this is Cornwall central - gateway to the Camel Trail (riverside cycle route to Padstow), the steam-driven Bodmin and Wenford Railway, the National Trust's Lanhydrock House and the A30 to everywhere else. Bodmin's Bedknobs is an old-fashioned Victorian villa, with a Green Tourism award, set in an acre of wooded suburban garden. Each of the three comfy rooms comes with a big bathroom, a Cornish breakfast (with hog's pudding or local-smoked kippers), eco-friendly toiletries Fairtrade tea and free wi-fi. Bring your own slippers.
• B&B from £75 per double room (there is a three-nights-for-two rate until 1 March). +44 (0)1208 77553, bedknobs.co.uk
5. The Rectory, St Juliot
This is where the young Thomas Hardy stayed while supervising the renovations of St Juliot's Church three fields away. It was here, in 1870, that he met his first wife Emma Gifford, the rector's sister-in-law. And it hasn't changed much since. Big on Victoriana, the house has original fireplaces, big chunky wardrobes, a four-poster room with an en suite thunder box, views of the Valency Valley and three acres. Breakfast includes fresh fruit and free-range eggs from the rectory's own walled garden. Boscastle, on the north coast, is within hiking distance.
• B&B from £82 per room per night (£41 per person). +44 (0)1840 250225, stjuliot.fsnet.co.uk
6. Botelet Farm, Herodsfoot, PL14 4RD
The Tamblyn family have run this 250-acre farm near Liskeard since 1884. And the flagstones, the latched doors, the plumbing, hark back to the days when grandma Ella started taking in paying guests in the 1930s. It is, perhaps, the epitome of boho shabby chic (Elle Deco did it proud in artful pictures of fashion and chickens), but this is the real thing. In farmhouse guest rooms, you get junk-shop antiques, carved oak, iron and earthy colours (there is only one bathroom), or you can stay in Manor or Cowslip Cottage (both sleep five), a yurt in a field, or on a "low impact" campsite in a meadow.
• B&B from £60 per double. Cottages from £290 per week. +44 (0)1503 220225; botelet.com
7. Calize Country House, Hayle
You can see Godrevy Lighthouse from this 1870s villa, the former seaside home of Lord Hocking – a Victorian mineral magnate who made a fortune in the Redruth mines. Run on sustainable principles (buy local, reduce, recycle etc.), Calize has four simple, sunny bedrooms, a two-bed self-contained cottage, and a fab location close to Gwithian's three miles of sandy beach. Ditch the car and walk the footpath – west to Hayle Harbour (now part of the Cornish Mining World Heritage site) or east to Godrevy Point and Fisherman's Cove. From nearby St Erth, you can take the St Ives Bay scenic railway to Carbis Bay or St Ives.
• B&B from £80 per double per night. Self-catering apartment from £295 per week. +44 (0)1736 753268, calize.co.uk
8. Treverbyn House, Padstow
In a corner of Padstow that hasn't been Rick Stein-ed, Treverbyn is an oasis of unpretentious period charm in this hip and over-hyped harbour town. The Edwardian villa has five rooms (including a romantic Turret Room) all furnished with antiques, brass, mahogany, old prints, rugs on polished wood floors; some have roll-top tubs, fireplaces (you can light a real fire on chilly nights) and panoramic views across the Camel Estuary to Rock and Daymer Bay. Fresh-cooked breakfasts are served in the rooms or on the seaview terrace.
• B&B from £75 per double room. +44 (0)1841 532855, treverbynhouse.com
9. Tremayne House, near Helford
The former dower house of the Lizard Peninsula's Trelowarren Estate, Tremayne is a member of Wolsey Lodges (a consortium of country-house homestays). It's elegant, Georgian and tucked away in three acres of wooded riverbank in the ravishing Helford Valley. The rooms are trad, and a little chintzy (think swagged drapes, pelmets, valances and trellises of florals) but the beds are super-comfortable, the food is fresh (garden herbs and Cornish seafood) and you get the sweeping-staircase experience, the runway dining table, at guest-house prices.
• B&B from £45 per person. +44 (0)1326 231618, tremaynehouse.com
10. Kerris Farm, near Penzance
On a working beef and dairy farm, a couple of miles inland from Newlyn, Mousehole or Lamorna Cove, this Victorian farmhouse has been in the Giles family since 1947 (they've been doing B&B since 1968). The three elegant rooms (brass or wrought iron beds, original features, country views) come with proper Cornish breakfasts. And you get all the bits and bobs you'd expect in a small hotel (TV, bathrobes, power showers), plus four cats, three dogs, a footpath to the sea and Celtic standing stones on the land.
• B&B from £70 per double (children £16). +44 (0)1736 731309, kerrisfarm.co.uk
• Lesley Gillilan is the author of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, RRP £12.99, published by Portfolio
