A former oasthouse at Farmstay UK's Hallwood Farm

Holiday cottage at the Mull of Galloway lighthouse

The National Trust for Scotland includes several lighthouse keepers’ cottages among its list of holiday accommodation in unusual buildings. For example, the Mull of Kintyre lighthouse is at the end of one of the most scenic and dramatic roads in Scotland, while the lighthouse on the Mull of Galloway, at the southernmost tip of Scotland, offers fabulous views across the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man. And lighthouses are not the only type of building to which the trust has given new life as holiday accommodation: its role in caring for Scotland’s historic buildings has brought many a gem under its wings, including, of course, a few castles.

Britain’s railway network has also seen great changes over the years, with many lines taken out of use and many railway buildings no longer needed. At the cosier end of the scale, the Hoste Arms (3-star), in 
Burnham market, Norfolk, has added a converted railway carriage to its accommodation. The former railway station went out of service in 1957 and its waiting room is now a guest sitting room and, next to the platform, the railway carriage is now a stylish bedroom.

Railway HQ - The Cedar Grand in York

At the other end of the scale in size, in York, a new luxury hotel has been created 
out of the imposing North Eastern Railway Headquarters, built in 1906. The company wanted an office building to reflect its status as one of the major businesses in Britain at that time, so only the best materials were used, includling handmade bricks, Portland Stone, black and white Belgian marble. Recently launched as the Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa (star-rating to be confirmed), 
the railway HQ now has 107 bedrooms including lofts and penthouses with stunning views across the city.

Hotel du Vin's stylish hotel, once an orphanage

The Hotel du Vin group specialises in tranforming architecturally-interesting buildings into luxury boutique hotels. 
Their York hotel, 
for example, was formerly an orphanage, built in the early 1800s; the Birmingham hotel was an eye hospital and, at Henley-on-Thames, the collection of buildings that surround the yard of the old Brakespears Brewery now house 43 boutique bedrooms and suites. The Bristol Hotel du Vin is in a converted Sugar House from the 1700s and the Edinburgh hotel was an asylum, next to the Bedlam Theatre.

Another building that would have previously known much more humble accommodation than its current use is Coombe Abbey Hotel (4-star) in Warwickshire. It started life as a Cistercian monastery, founded in 1150, and the stone cloisters, which survive to this day, were built in 1539. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the property being surrendered to Henry VIII, it became a private house and the Craven family owned it for 300 years. In 1771, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown redesigned the 500 aces of gardens and parkland which you can enjoy to this day. Coombe Abbey had a brief third life in 1950 as a training centre for the General Electric Company then opened as a hotel in 1995. It's a fascinating mix of architectural styles with richly luxurious bedrooms and even medieval banquets in the historic barn.

Former Cistercian monastery: Coombe Abbey Hotel

Another Cistercian Abbey features in the religious sites where English Heritage offers five-star holiday cottages. Rievaulx Abbey, where you can stay in the refectory cottage, was founded in 1132 by 12 monks from Clairvaux Abbey in north-eastern France. Farther north in Yorkshire, there’s Mount Grace Priory in North Yorkshire, with the Prior’s Lodge now a holiday cottage. Mount Grace was a medieval Carthusian chapterhouse. English Heritage also has a former cricket pavilion at Osborne House, Queen Victoria’s beloved residence on the Isle of Wight, and Cambridge Lodge, the delightful gatehouse at Audley End House in Essex.

Capel Mawr in Snowdonia

Religious buildings, Gothic follies and listed mills, are just some of the self-catering options on offer from Menai Holiday Cottages. Capel Mawr (4-star) meaning ‘big chapel’ is one of five chapels in the Welsh village of Llanrug on the border of the Snowdonia National Park. There has been a chapel on this site since the late 18th century but the current chapel dates back to 1842 and has since been converted into a film studio and now a luxurious three-bedroom holiday home by current owner, Dez Thomas. The master bedroom boasts fantastic views towards Snowdon and the bathroom 
is certainly ‘different’ with the wash hand basin set in the pulpit.

White Beach Holiday has a windmill 
at White Beach Cove, on nearby Anglesey. This mill (5-star), sleeping four, was built in 1741 and now has accommodation over four floors, with panoramic views from the top living room. You can see the 
Menai Straits and the Snowdonia Mountain range from one side, the Irish Sea, Puffin Island, the Great Orme and the Isle of Man from the other. There are also lovely gardens and a hot tub.

Converted barn bedroom at Wheatacre Hall

If you fancy trying life on a British farm, take a look at the star-rated self-catering and bed and breakfast accommodation offered by Farm Stay UK. There are many bed and breakfasts in the main farmhouses, and self-catering cottages on the farmland, but also a few holiday cottages and facilities in quirky buildings. At Cyfie Farm (5-star), which offers B&B and also holiday cottages in its longhouse and barns – an old pigsty was converted to house the hot tub. Wheatacre Hall Barns (5-star) in south Norfolk, are a cluster of six barns that are now three-bedroom holiday cottages, still with many original features intact. Farm Stay UK also includes Crake Trees Manor near the Eden Valley in Cumbria, 
with B&B and self-catering accommodation, including in the converted village 
Brewhouse (5-star).

Landmark Trust's Beamsley Hospital in Yorkshire

Landmark Trust, the building and 
preservation charity that rescues historic 
buildings, restores them and lets them out as holiday accommodation, specialises in quirky ‘reborn’ properties. As well as its most famous landmark, the Pineapple in Scotland, there are Martello Towers, follies, banqueting houses and forts, and, near Skipton in Yorkshire, the Beamsley Hospital, a circular building where, until the 1970s, seven of the community of Mother and Sisters lived. Their rooms surrounded a chapel through which most of them had 
to pass to reach their doors – a daily encouragement to piety.

Find out more

AND WHY NOT TRY

• Barnsdale Lodge Hotel and Restaurant (5-star) at Rutland Water, near Oakham. Converted from a 17th-century farmstead in 1989, on the north shore of Rutland Water. Part of the adjoining Exton Park, seat of the Earls of Gainsborough. Now with 44 bedrooms and a restaurant with an AA rosette.  www.greatinns.co.uk
• Malmaison Oxford (3-star), Oxford. One of the 12 Malmaisons, this former castle-turned-prison is now a modern hotel at the heart of the university city. Architectural features retained to make for an arresting stay. Starred as a TV location in Lewis. Tel: (01865) 268400; www.malmaison-oxford.com
• The Old School (5-star), Nr Alnwick, Northumberland. Winner of the Bed and Breakfast category at the England Awards for Excellence 2010. An 18th-century schoolhouse in the conservation village of Newton-on-the-Moor, where Kath and Malcolm Downe are renowned for their great breakfasts using the best of Northumbrian produce. 
Tel: (01665) 575767; 
www.northumberlandbed
andbreakfast.co.uk
• The Old School and Capel Pentwyn (4&5-star), Penallt, Monmouthshire. Luxury converted 19th-century schoolhouse (three-bedroom sleeps six) and Arts & Crafts chapel built in 1869 (three-bedroom sleeps five) make for fine and characterful self-catering cottages in a peaceful village in the picture-perfect Wye Valley. 
Tel: (01600) 715781; www.capelpentwyn.co.uk
• The Courthouse Hotel (5-star), Soho, London. Contemporary hotel created in 2005 out of premises formerly known as the Great Marlborough Street Magistrates Court – in 1835, Charles Dickens worked as a reporter there for the Morning Chronicle and, since 1912, a number of famous and infamous faces have passed through its polished chambers in the name of justice including Mick Jagger and Francis Bacon. A Grade II-listed building, the hotel features the original Robert Adam fireplaces throughout the luxurious Magistrates Suites, prison cells in the holding block reinvented as funky private VIP rooms in The Bar, and Silk, the hotel’s Michelin-recommended destination restaurant is, in fact, the old Number One courtroom. www.courthouse-hotel.com