Sunday 9 October 2011

Endsleigh House Hotel

We could not have asked for a more beautiful weekend..early October, an Indian Summer and we chose Endsleigh House Hotel in Devon to spend some time together.

The website does not do this lovely hotel justice, as it is truly stunning and feels as if you are staying in charming, private home. The staff were sweet and efficient, the service good and basically, they simply get it.

It is a four and a half hour drive from London (Chelsea)...not three and a half which is what the website tells you. We made a couple of stops on the way and were lucky with the traffic, it was fairly easy.

Not far off the A30, just outside of the village of Milton Abbot, the hotel was built in a beautiful valley in the heart of Devon. Created over a period of three years, for the 6th Duke and Duchess of Bedford, as an escape from the grandeur of Woburn Abbey, Endsleigh stands on a hillside in 108 acres of woodland and Grade I listed gardens, overlooking the fast flowing, River Tamar.

Quiet and peaceful, it is a wonderful place to rest for a weekend. The hotel claims to be child friendly and even though there was a young Italian couple with two tiny babies there during our stay, it is not really the right place for little children (you would be better off at somewhere like Babington House). However, it is perfect for couples and small celebrations (you can take over the hotel exclusively for a birthday or a wedding and infact marry there). They allow dogs too and the one there for the weekend during our stay, gave the hotel a nice country house feel. There are plenty of nooks and crannies to hide away in, both inside the house and out in the gardens. On arrival we had tea outside in a small corner at the side of the house, which was completely private.

Our room overlooked the courtyard which was a bit noisy and we would definitely request a room on the other side of the house with views of the Tamar next time. The room was spacious, the bed sooo comfortable with nice pillows and good quality sheets. We had a large bathroom with delicious Ren products, a bath and shower with a huge showerhead, I felt as if I was standing in a rain storm. They changed the towels each day and waited for us to leave the room for dinner before coming in to turn down the bed at night..so important.

The food is delicious and the wine list good. Breakfast can be full English with local bacon, sausages and eggs or American style waffles with maple syrup. The three course dinner menu costs £40 and is good value. In the summer you can dine outside on the terrace, or in a small alcove with heaters. Inside, the wood panelled dining room did rather have the experience of that 'hushed' feeling some dining rooms in country house hotels have - I dread that, so on the second night we ate outside which was more fun.

We ventured into Tavistock on the Saturday morning to the famous Pannier market, the only stall worth visiting is the second hand book stall in the corner but it is a sweet place with some nice little shops. Back at the hotel we walked around the gardens which are lovely with some interesting trees, plants, waterfalls and walkways. The top part of the garden by the house has a beautiful, long rose arbour which leads down to a shell house, popular at the time it was built. We watched a couple of guests going out to fish along eight miles of the best salmon and sea trout river in England with a fishing club ghillie at hand to help. For lunch on Saturday we were able to have a picnic (which the hotel staff prepared) on the banks of the River Tamar. Sitting in the warm Autumn sunshine, drinking chilled white wine was our idea of absolute heaven.

The house is really cosy inside with many small rooms. In winter you can imagine sitting in a big comfy chair by one of the roaring fires with a glass of wine, reading a book from their extensive library in the late afternoon.

This is not a glitzy hotel for those seeking a gym, spa and dress up experience. Quite the opposite - it was more about the Dad with his son who had come fishing, the couple with their beloved dog, a family of eight celebrating their mother's sixtieth birthday and even a couple of people staying alone (who were not remotely out of place) and who seemed to simply read their books and walk around the gardens.

It is a bit of a drive from London, but it is so worth it. Take Friday off, leave by 11am and you will miss the traffic and if you can leave on the Monday to have a long weekend, you will really have a fabulous weekend.















http://www.hotelendsleigh.com/

Monday 1 August 2011

Weekend in Dubrovnik

Damaged during the war in the 1990's, Dubrovnik is now a UNESCO heritage site and undergoing a major restoration programme. The 'Pearl of the Adriatic' is about a 2.5 hour flight from London and a 20 minute drive to the old town from the airport in Dubrovnik. We stayed at the Hotel Excelsior which was a perfect location and good hotel.

The Hotel Excelsior is a combination of a modern glass structure and old, stone architecture. The rooms on the sea in the modern building are the best. We had a junior suite with separate seating area, bedroom, lots of cupboard space and huge marble bathroom. The beds are wonderfully comfortable and we slept with the windows open to the sea each night. There is also air-conditioning for when the weather hots up.

The spa facilities are good and the treatments inexpensive and exceptional. Massages are wonderful and they do great facials. The indoor pool is very nice with relaxation areas and great for exercising but the stone, sun deck next to the sea is heaven and the sea crystal clear, blue and deliciously refreshing. The swimming area is roped off for protection from boats. There is a also a stone, salt water, sea pool by the beach restaurant for those not keen on the open sea. It is a basic structure and bit sea weedy underfoot but enclosed. We had very variable weather during our stay and the sea was so rough we were unable to sit outside one day so we went to the beach club next door (East West) which was over crowded with tourists and a bit overwhelming but we were able to reserve beds in the VIP area and the food was surprisingly good.

The place to have pre and post dinner drinks at the hotel is the Palm Terrace, a pianist tinkles away unobtrusively in the background. The main restaurant Salin is stark with little atmosphere in the evening mainly because of the poor lighting.It is fine for breakfast if you sit outside(they have a huge buffet which is very good) and you can have dinner and lunch out on terrace as well. Despite this the food is good. The chef Peter cooked us Scorpion Fish one night which was delicious.

Have lunch or dinner is at the Prora Beach restaurant which is near the outdoor, sea water pool. Tables are laid either under the cool stone archways or out on the terrace itself on the water’s edge. Prora is run by Mario (and helped by Ivan), both were charming and kept us entertained.

The restaurants in the town are ok and it makes a nice change to get out. We had dinner in the town at a restaurant called Proto which was a lovely, atmospheric restaurant but the food was average (prawns were frozen, spinach was frozen etc.) There is another restaurant called Moby Dick (where they ask you in advance when you make your reservation what you would like in the way of fresh fish). We did not make it there but it is supposed to be very good. There are lots of nice ice cream stalls around for kids and plenty of places to buy bottled water. If you want to wear high heels for dinner, make sure you wear wedges as the streets are cobbled and it makes life easier.

Just outside the walls of the old town, a restaurant called Pergola is apparently good and the only place you can get “Prstaci” (translated as date shells in English) and a specialty of the Adriatic Sea. A restaurant called Orsan has wonderful scenery overlooking the sea but the food is fairly average.

We had a private tour of the old town of Dubrovnik one morning organised by the hotel concierge. Our lovely guide, Maria who was brought up in Dubrovnik took us down the five minute walk from the Hotel Excelsior into the old town which is stunningly beautiful. There are many cruise ships that come through Dubrovnik, so it gets very over crowded sadly. It is best to go into the town in the early morning at about 8am (in the summer it is really too hot after 10am) and you can then avoid the crowds. One of our team walked the ramparts of the city early one evening which took about 30 minutes.

If you just want to go in for a look around, best advice is to keep an eye out for the enormous cruise ships and go in when they are not there! You cannot miss them, they park up off shore by the island. The biggest we saw was called Costa Fortuna...it was hideously huge.

The best way to see the surrounding area is to hire a private boat which the hotel can organise. They have a range of boats which come with crew and are able to take you on a trip around the islands and beautiful coastline. There are some island restaurants which are recommended by a friend who lives there. The sea was unseasonably rough during our stay so we were unable to go, however he told us you can take a water taxi to them if you do not want to rent a boat for a whole day:

Restaurant Taurus on island Sipan (the food is apparently excellent and the island is magnificent)

Stella Maris on Kobas (this is also a nice location, food can be great but sometimes varies)



Hotel Website
http://www.alh.hr/en/hotel-excelsior-dubrovnik/restaurants/
Dubrovnik
Unesco Heritage Site
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/95