Where can we stay overnight in a lighthouse? We are two couples looking for a break with a difference, and like the idea of staying in a remote and genuine old lighthouse. Wendy Harrelson, Swindon

Sunday Times travel expert Richard Green responds: The Burnham High Lighthouse is the perfect place for you, almost, as it is in the little Somerset town of Burnham on Sea. Bear with me though.

The tower was built in 1830 and is smooth and white with a big red vertical strip down the side ­ straight from a children's colouring book. It stretches over eight floors, with a lantern room at the top that is reached by a very steep wooden staircase.

It's now a self-catering property that sleeps up to six (in three en suite double bedrooms). You'll have to fight over the large-ish master bedroom though, but then the other two bedrooms are higher up and closest to those outstanding breakfast table views at the top. There is also a ground floor reception with an outside patio, a 6th floor living room, and 7th floor kitchen kitchen.

A pathway runs the few hundred feet to the beach and the lower lighthouse ­ a weird wooden tower on stilts that is still in use.

Contact 0797 098 3245, www.lighthouseholiday.com, where a weekend (Friday-Sunday) is from £699, and a week from £799 in low season. A week in summer rises to £1,349.

If windswept remoteness is a must, then about an hours drive south of Dublin on the R750 (you really can't miss it), is the 95m high stone tower of the Wicklow Head lighthouse. The octagonal structure was built in 1781, and a lightening strike and fire destroyed the interiors 1836. It's now completely renovated and has two double bedrooms, a sitting room, and a bathroom. The rooms are of course small, but unusually for a lighthouse, each has high ceilings and several large arched windows.

Book through the Irish Landmark Trust (00 353 1 670 4733), which offers three nights midweek in the low season from £393, or a weekend from £632. In July and August booking have to be for a week, Saturday to Saturday, from £1,247.

Or for something more remote still, there is the Cantick Head Lighthouse in the Orkneys. It was designed in the 1850s by the famous Stevenson brothers (sons of Robert (of train fame)), and one of them was the father of Robert Louise.

The whitewashed lighthouse Cantick Head Lighthouse is situated at the tip of the Walls peninsula attached to the island of Hoy overlooking Cantick Sound and the southern entrance to Scapa Flow ­ and that's about as remote as you can get in the British Isles.

You aren't actually billeted in the tower here, but in two cutesy cottages in the walled grounds surrounding it - the Principle Lightkeeper's Cottage has two double bedrooms, and the Assistant Lightkeeper's Cottage has one double.

The Orkney Lighthouse (01856 701255) has a cottage for a three-night break from £210 in the low season, or from £450 per week in high summer.

Or try the Landmark Trust, which has several lighthouse stays on Lundy Island, or Rural Retreats, which has lighthouse keeper cottages in the UK.

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