Some stately stays in English manors

Britain-bound travelers who crave unusual accommodations, take note. The Sceptered Isles have many treasures to offer.

Consider the properties of the National Trust, whose mission is "preserving places of historic interest and natural beauty."

Since it was founded in 1895, Britain's National Trust has grown into a massive organization, with more than 2.5 million members. It now owns and protects some 600,000 acres of property in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including 600 miles of coastline. Its portfolio of structures includes 60 villages, 272 historic houses, 39 pubs, 17 dovecotes and two lighthouses. The majority are town houses and country cottages, but several dozen are great estates that became too expensive for their owners to maintain.

Nearly 300 of these properties can accommodate short-term guests. Depending on the property and time of year, weekly rates range from $200 to $2,000. Considering how expensive English hotels have become, those rates are a bargain, especially for a taste of elegance, albeit somewhat faded.

Properties range from coastal cottages in Cornish fishing villages, thatched Devon cottages, a former gamekeeper's cottage in Herefordshire, to apartments in the cathedral city of York and a lookout cottage with amazing sea views in Northumberland. There are suites in ancient abbeys and apartments in elegant city homes, too.

Consider Standen, a Victorian country house located near East Grinstead in Sussex, several miles from London's Gatwick Airport, where US Airways flights from Pittsburgh land.

Designed in the 1890s by a colleague of craftsman William Morris, Standen's airy and well-lighted rooms are filled with Morris furnishings and textiles, according to his principle "have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." Recently refurbished inside and surrounded by informal gardens, the house and grounds are local showpieces, open on occasion for public tours.

Two spacious apartments are on Standen's second floor, in the former servants' quarters. There's a kitchen, dining area, bedroom and bathroom. House guests are free to explore the house and grounds almost at will. Standen's apartments are available year-round at weekly rates that range from $320 in winter to $900 in high season.

The National Trust prints a directory of its holiday cottages and apartments. It is distributed in the United States by its American affiliate, the Royal Oak Foundation, and costs $6 for members and $9 for nonmembers.

A similar organization, the National Trust for Scotland, controls more than 300,000 acres of land and 100 buildings in Scotland.

Vivat Trust, a smaller organization, performs a similar function for historic properties whose owners are not able or not willing to cede ownership to the National Trust. Because it tends to get involved with smaller, odder properties, Vivat's portfolio is somewhat quirky. It has eight offerings, all of which have been refurbished as luxury accommodations, although at very affordable prices.

For example, there's the Tower of Hallbar, set on five acres of orchard and meadow in Scotland's Clyde River valley, about 45 minutes from Glasgow.

Built in 1581, the four-story tower was formerly home to the Lockharts of Lee. The gargoyled tower, which sleeps seven, has been decorated to invoke a 16th-century ambience but with 21st-century comforts. Weekly rental rates run from about $750 in winter to $1,200 in summer.

Britain has hundreds of other unique accommodation options that are still privately owned and lovingly operated as holiday cottages, B&Bs and small inns. Even though many are registered with the British Tourist Authority, obtaining information about them can be a challenge. One excellent book, "Cottage Holidaying in Britain" (Gale Armstrong -- Classic Publications), is out of print, although used copies are still available on Amazon.com.

More than a dozen companies in the United States can connect travelers with a range of apartment and self-catering cottages as well as "different accommodations," from medieval castles to canal boats. They're listed on the British Tourist Authority's Web site.

The authority also has highlighted 115 of its finest private inns and hotels as "Jewels of Britain." Included are the world-class Dorchester in London; the Eriska, a baronial mansion on a private island in Scotland; and the quietly elegant Atlantic Hotel on the Isle of Jersey. Listings for the Jewels of Britain are available in a free brochure and on the authority's Web site.

So if you're planning an extended stay in Britain and desire something truly special in the way of accommodations, know that there's a lot to choose from.

That's particularly true now in the wake of the foot and mouth scourge, which has reduced the usual tide of visitors that wash over Britain each year, and at a time when favorable exchange rates are making travel dollars go further than ever.

For National Trust information, log on to www.nationaltrust.org.uk. For information on cottage rentals, you can call 011-44-8-704-584-422. Or contact the Royal Oak Foundation in the United States, 800-913-6565 or www.royal-oak.org.

For National Trust of Scotland: www.nts.org.uk.

For Vivat Trust: www.vivat.org.uk.

For British Tourist Authority: 800-462-2748 or www.travelbritain.org.