Romantic mini-breaks from Blickling Hall to Thornbury Castle

Take note Knights On White Chargers (or in Red Sports Cars): These are the perfect places to book a mini romantic getaway.

If you’re on a romantic mini-break at the stage of your relationship when you need a love nest, there couldn’t be anything more idyllic and welcoming than The Dovecote in Oxfordshire. A brick octagon with a lantern roof letting in light, this dovecote was once home to over a thousand pigeons, ‘power’ now remains = a technical term for staircase, now augmented with a spiral staircase, and center post and loft, but the birds are gone and there’s only room for two in the spa and double shower. For a less literal love nest, Dunmore Pineapple is one of the more unusual romantic mini-getaway destinations in the UK. The roof of this ex-conservatory is a very literal reproduction of a giant stone pineapple and the interior is spread over two floors, but the romantic mini switches will have to create their own steam, the conservatory’s piping system has been shut down. . If Buckinghamshire is closer, the Jacobean tower of Blickling Hall is another romantically renovated love nest, complete with roof terrace, luxurious warm fabrics and coastal views. Legends of a ghost in the living room will only serve to bring you closer as the sun sets.

Nothing says ‘getting out of town’ like views without buildings. Which is exactly what greets the romantic mini-breakers gazing from the windows of Clavell Tower in Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset. Built in 1830 as an observatory and folly, this tower stands alone against the wide expanse of ocean, a romantic Tuscan-style structure and the inspiration for Thomas Hardy’s Wessex Poems, and now fitted out for just two. Continuing the sea-view tower theme, the Martello Tower in Suffolk is a romantic little fortress built from chunky bricks that looks like a four-leaf clover in aerial photos. The moat and thick walls may not seem cozy and romantic until you are inside in front of the huge fireplace listening to the terrifyingly exciting sound of the waves crashing outside. Romantic mini breakers staying at Ballyportry Castle in Ireland will be able to make all the noise they want, this tower has been standing alone on top of this cliff for over 500 years, exposed beams, roaring peat fires and all. The Summer House, still qualifies as a tower for two – it’s an odd building, built like an ‘Elizabethan banquet tower’, but what romantic mini-breakers will want to know is that it’s pretty, has nice views, is quite a ways out of earshot closest, and has a roof terrace, four-poster bed and generous fireplace.

If a mini romantic getaway means not having to do anything yourself, then a castle hotel is closer to the dream. You still get the four post and spa but someone else will get the roaring fire. Thornbury Castle was the romantic getaway choice of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and you can sleep in her boudoir for around £300 a night. Amberley Castle used to belong to Elizabeth I and still has a moat and portcullis – stay up until midnight and watch it lock up for the night – but now it’s much warmer and more luxurious inside. Or a romantic mini-break in a custom four-poster bed, stylish luxury and comfort in the en-suite at Langley Castle or Blencow Hall, Grade 1 listed but uber-stylish.