Rest assured

New hotels are springing up all the time, but it's getting harder to find quality places in the budget price range.
Desmond Balmer, editor of The Good Hotel Guide 2005, published this week, sifts through the entries to bring you the best in both categories

Saturday September 11, 2004
The Guardian

The 2005 edition of the Good Hotel Guide features a record 115 new entries, a sure sign that independent hotel-keeping is thriving. The 10 chosen here illustrate two emerging themes: a new owner gives an existing inn or hotel a contemporary make-over; or an abandoned building, part of our industrial heritage, is given new life as a stylish hotel.
In each case, it is the drive and vision of a private owner that has underpinned the development. Another common theme is the importance given to the restaurant, with modern menus presented with flair.

All 10 of these new hotels have been tried and tested by Guide inspectors on an anonymous overnight visit.

The prices given are for two people in a double room, unless per person (pp) is specified. Where quoted, dinner, bed and breakfast prices (D,B&B) are pp.

New: The Place, Camber, East Sussex

Across the road from Camber's windswept dunes, this restaurant-with-rooms is an artful conversion of an unprepossessing motel. It has been given a bright and cheerful decor (with a hint of Scandinavia); superb lighting, good bathrooms. The restaurant majors on Rye Bay seafood and organic produce. Family friendly.

How to book: 01797 225057, theplacecambersands.co.uk. B&B: double £75-£80, family room £120-£128. Dinner around £28.