On to a shore thing...

There’s nothing quite like being beside the sea. JANE MEMMLER selects some of the best places you can watch the waves roll in

Carbis Bay, St Ives, Cornwall

This summer, all eyes will be on pretty Carbis Bay in St Ives when world leaders gather there for the G7 Summit.

Set across 125 acres, accommodation ranges from the elegant 47 rooms in the Main House to chic beach lodges and suites.

Chill out in the beautiful C Bay Spa, dip into heated pools and relax on the private sandy beach.

Dining is exceptional here including fine dining in the 1894

Restaurant, the boutiquey

Hungry Gannet and the Beach

Club right on the sands.

Doubles from £280 B&B; beach lodges, sleeping six, from

£1,800 per night (in May), carbisbayhotel.co.uk

St Brides, Wales

This has to be one of the best spots for views from a hotel room, with most of the 34 rooms taking in the sweeping Carmarthen Bay and clifflined coast. The pretty town of Tenby is nearby and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park offers serious walking terrain. There are six two-bedroom apartments done out with contemporary nautical-coloured (blue and blonde wood) artworks created by locals.

The spa overlooking Saundersfoot has everything you need, from treatments to a thermal suite and outdoor pool.

The Cliff Restaurant cashes in on those fabulous views and serves up splendid seafood dishes alongside other locally sourced bites such as Welsh venison and Pembrokeshire duck. We love the “no mobile phone” policy too.

■ Doubles from £195 per room, per night, B&B (in May), rarebits.co.uk

Seaham Hall, Durham

Twenty minutes outside Durham sits the majestic Seaham Hall hotel. This historic Georgian manor is perched on a cliff overlooking the wild coast.

There are 44 rooms which all have fabulously bold interiors.

It’s all about the spa here, with its Far Eastern influences and huge range of treatments.

Food is regionally sourced and distinctly British in the main dining room, while Ozone offers a Pan Asian menu.

■ Doubles from £315 per room, per night, B&B (in May), seaham-hall.co.uk

Brudenell, Suffolk

Rooms with views of the pale grey pebbles of Aldeburgh’s expansive beach are on offer at the Brudenell. Originally built as 19th-century merchant homes, it opened as a hotel in 1868. Rooms are neutral in tone with the communal areas featuring driftwood artworks, lanterns and maritime-inspired wallpaper.

Wander along those pebbles to artist Maggi Hambling’s arresting steel scallop artwork and past the little wooden huts selling fresh seafood.

The hotel’s Seafood & Grill restaurant is constantly booked, renowned for its local fish which lands just up the beach.

A mile away is the quirky black and white town of Thorpeness, while Aldeburgh’s high street with bookshops and individual boutiques is just behind.

■ Doubles from £150 per room, per night, B&B (in May).

Visit brudenellhotel.co.uk

Midland Hotel, Morecambe

An Art Deco masterpiece that curves along Morecambe Bay, the Midland Hotel has often been compared to a luxury ocean liner, all thanks to its uninterrupted watery views of the sea.

Built in 1933, there are 44 lovely rooms with modern furniture and bright soft furnishings – many having their own balconies and sea views.

The Sun Terrace restaurant is wall-towall glass with sensational views all the way to the Lakeland Fells. The AA-Rosette restaurant serves locallysourced menus.

Don’t miss Crook O’Lune, the location for one of JMW Turner’s paintings and the historic and beautiful Leighton Hall, home to furniture-makers the Gillow Family.

Doubles from £252 per room, per night, B&B (in May), englishlakes.co.uk