Hotel Endsleigh

Quite literally situated on the border between Devon and Cornwall in the glorious Tamar Valley, the fairy-tale Endsleigh Hotel is the country cousin of the excellent waterside Tresanton in Cornwall, both owned by the renowned designer and hotelier, Olga Polizzi. Occupying a 19th-century hunting lodge that was the rural retreat of the Duke of Bedford, the hotel’s grounds were designed 200 years ago by Sir Humphrey Repton and cover 100 picture-perfect acres of gardens, streams, woodlands, follies and grottoes. It is, as gardener Alan Titchmarsh described it, ‘a hotel built in paradise’.

Despite having restored the house from a virtual ruin, Polizzi has done very little to change the structure. The original fireplaces, doors, windows and shutters ensure that the hotel has the feel of the country residence of your richest most stylish and perhaps most eccentric aunt. Its eighteen rooms and suites range from ‘Classic’ through the more spacious ‘Repton’ and ‘Bedford’ rooms to a number of well-appointed suites. All are artfully and individually decorated, with a stylish mix of old and new furniture, wooden floors, hand-painted wallpapers, roll-top baths and book-lined shelves. Touches of modern luxury include walk-in showers and big comfortable beds – and, in the family suites, separate sitting rooms and tongue-and-groove cabins with built-in bunk beds for little ones, plus their own TV in the wall. There’s also a further suite in the former gatekeeper’s lodge with a private garden and wood-burning stove. and a new suite with a double shower and seating for two. Each room is like entering another tale of wonder, each with its own story and uniquely curated with the closest attention to detail.

All rooms are dog-friendly and have stunning views over the gardens and grounds, which you must get out and explore: numerous footpaths meander around the rolling moorland. You can of course hang out on the vine-covered terrace and do not very much at all, but for the more energetic there are lots of activities on offer, including falconry, shooting, fishing, horse-riding and cycling along the new Drakes Trail to Plymouth.. Above all, the hotel is a lovely place to return to after a hard’s day’s yomping through the woods, with a cosy lounge and a restaurant that serves very good, well-priced and unpretentious food,; and they do a good afternoon tea. In short, Endsleigh is exactly what it was always meant to be – a fabulous country bolthole, and perfect weekend escape.