Gara Rock

Drive down ‘tiny country lanes’, putter across from Salcombe aboard a little motorboat ferry, or walk the South West Coast Path to reach this remote hotel and spa with ‘a commanding cliffside position and sublime views’. However you get here, you won’t regret it, says a Guide insider, though it is expensive. Built on the site of a Victorian coastguard station-turned-Edwardian hotel, it has an exciting choice of rooms and suites, some sea facing with a balcony, some with a garden patio, ‘perfect for dog owners’. New junior suites have an open living space and roll-top bath. ‘Apartments in the grounds are more simply furnished and more suited to families.’ A lounge with ‘wood-burner and sheepskin throws over squishy armchairs’ shares space with a bistro with curved full-height windows, ‘lights cleverly incorporated into fishing nets’. New executive head Paul Hegley creates dishes such as pan-fried halibut, Salcombe shellfish sauce, piperade and preserved fennel, but you can still have good old fish and chips. When the sun shines, dine alfresco on barbecued fare; when it rains, watch a movie in the cinema. (JK)