HERITAGE Stays

Book a historic hideaway – once the day-trippers go home, you'll have the place all to yourself

- ADRIAN MOURBY

The National Trust, English Heritage and the Landmark Trust own hundreds of historic properties across Britain and in quite a few they’ve turned the odd estate cottage, gatehouse or attic apartment into a holiday let.

At Sissinghurst, the old Kent castle that writers Vita Sackville West and Harold Nicolson restored, there is a roomy, rentable brick cottage attached to their famous White Garden. The husband and wife team divided their grounds into floral “rooms”, and this garden was planted with snowy flowers and silver-grey foliage.

The Priest’s House, as it’s called, sleeps six and has wooden beams, brick flooring and an inglenook fireplace. There are good views of the Elizabethan tower where Vita’s writing room is preserved but best of all, after the gates are closed to visitors, all 450 acres of the wider estate are yours to explore.

Up in Warwickshire, Charlecote Park, a 16th-century brick mansion, sits close to Shakespeare’s Stratford. Indeed a local legend runs that in his youth the playwright was caught poaching deer in its grounds. On the second floor, a cosy apartment is reached by a very steep spiral staircase. This would have been servants’ accommodation originally, with the staircase enabling staff to come and go without disturbing the family. Today this three-bedroom apartment under the eaves enjoys lovely views through latticed windows to Charlecote’s splendid Tudor gatehouse and the fallow deer roaming freely beyond.

On the dramatic North Cornwall coast, Doyden Castle is one of the National Trust’s most popular holiday lets. It’s a Neo-Gothic “prospect tower” built in the 1830s by a man called Samuel Symons. In the early 19th century prospect towers were fashionable among the wealthy, who built them wherever there was a scenic view to enjoy.