Doubles from £65, room-only; 00 33 5 49 84 07 07, lesorangeries.com

5 HOTEL DIDEROT, Loire

In this regal corner of France, you need a place where the corridors creak, where there’s an aroma of old, polished wood and a friendly face in the kitchen, making jam. You require the Diderot, a 15th-century hotel hidden in Chinon. The rooms combine heavy furniture with a lightness of touch. Through spring and summer, the garden is overcome with flowers; the welcome is warm and the jams are first-class.

Doubles from £47, room-only; 00 33 2 47 93 18 87, hoteldiderot.com

The Sunday Times Travel Magazine - January

20 romantic British hotels for less

The Sunday Times has secured exclusive discounts and extras at these genuinely romantic B&Bs, restaurants with rooms and small hotels

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6 HOTEL DU PARC, Montpellier

What was good enough for former owner Count Vivier de Châtelard is good enough for us. Spiral staircases and heaps of elegance lead the way to sumptuous rooms. Stroll Montpellier’s medieval alleys, then head back to the hotel for a glass of red on the terrace.

Doubles from £78, room-only; 00 33 4 67 41 16 49, www.hotelduparc-montpellier.com

7 NICE GARDEN HOTEL, Nice

This one ticks all the boxes: city, beach, bargain. A minute from the Promenade des Anglais, it has shuttered windows and shaded verandas to keep you from overheating. Fling open the huge windows in any of the airy, tile-floored rooms to inhale wafts of citrus from the orange garden.

Doubles from £56, room-only; 00 33 4 93 87 35 62, nicegardenhotel.com

8 QUINTA DO CORACAO, Algarve

This white and terracotta converted farmhouse is set into a wooded hill amid olive groves, with a little terrace where you can hear the sound of the nearby waterfall. There are only three rooms and one cottage: the bread’s baked fresh every day and the owners keep a vegetable garden, too.

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