Brooks Guesthouse

A stroll from the harbour and Old Vic, Carla and Andrew Brooks’s imaginative conversion of a 1950s office block impressed our inspectors this year. ‘It has a touch of pizzazz, with improbable silver caravans gleaming on its roof,’ providing novel accommodation, and ‘fun for a family’. A courtyard garden is planted with ‘hedge shrubs and lavender’. A double room (some are king-size) was ‘neat, well lit and tastefully decorated with classily understated’ Cole & Son floral wallpaper. There was some criticism of poor luggage space and absent-minded housekeeping, and a small shower room was ‘just about adequate’ and could have done with better lighting. Still, the open-plan lounge/breakfast room had ‘rugs on polished floors, chairs and sofas grouped around old travelling trunks’. A ‘well-executed, freshly cooked’ breakfast included ‘vegan options and a range of less usual dishes, organic jams and compotes, and daily specials chalked on a blackboard’. Overall, it is terrific value and perfect for younger guests. ‘We’d be happy to recommend it.’