Bell Hotel Sandwich

For a long time the picturesque Southeastern town of Sandwich was longer on quirky charm than it was on proper luxury — and the same was true of the Bell Hotel. But out of charm and luxury, the second is the one that’s easier to add via renovation. And now that it’s got a healthy measure of each, the Bell can rightfully count itself in a class with the best of England’s outlying small-town inns.

The renovation was in many ways something more like a restoration, undoing a few of the building’s more questionable improvements — uncovering, for example, a magnificent parquet floor. But in the rooms it’s unquestionably a step forward, leaving the interiors stylish, sumptuous, up to date, and not a bit less charming than they were before. The tones are mellow and the luxuries are understated, with modest televisions and digital radios being the extent of the electronic intrusions.

In the restaurant you’ll find the kind of upscale-rustic farm-to-table cooking of the sort for which the best British inns are rightfully famous. The town is scenic, and the beach is a very short drive away, as are the golf courses at Prince’s and Royal St. George’s. All that and not a word about the Earl.