Dart Marina
Devoted to leisure and pleasure, Richard Seton’s spa hotel overlooking the Dart estuary is a perennial readers’ favourite. More
Good Hotel Guide Review
Devoted to leisure and pleasure, Richard Seton’s spa hotel overlooking the Dart estuary is a perennial readers’ favourite. It is ‘faultless’, writes one this year. Winter or summer, says another, ‘everything ticks over to perfection’. Rooms, designed to soak up the ever-changing river view, are painted in muted pastels and washed with watery light. Some have French doors to a balcony; others, sliding glass doors to decking with glass balustrade. Junior suites have a dual-aspect lounge and a wet room with drench shower. All rooms have air conditioning, a coffee machine, fresh milk, and binoculars for porpoise-spotting. The staff are ‘fabulous’, under ‘ever-present’ manager Paul Downing. In the restaurant, Peter Alcroft uses local produce, freshly landed fish and shellfish for his unfussy dishes – perhaps a risotto, fish pie or dry-aged South Devon beef. There is a lounge menu and, in season, Cloud Nine pop-up van-bar parks on the waterfront to serve drinks and lunches – Exmouth mussels, pulled pork and ciabatta – to eat alfresco as you watch people messing about in boats. (Ian Malone, Peter Anderson, and others)
Hotel details
Address
Sandquay Road
Dartmouth
Devon
TQ6 9PH
England
Telephone
01803 832580
Bedrooms
49. 4 on ground floor, 1 suitable for disabled, plus 4 apartments.
Open
all year.
Facilities
lounge/bar, restaurant, in-room TV (Freeview), lawn, terrace, spa (heated indoor swimming pool, 8 by 4 metres, gym), lounge and restaurant wheelchair accessible.
Background music
in restaurant and lounge/bar during the day.
Children
all ages welcomed.
Dogs
allowed in some bedrooms and lounge, not in restaurant.
Credit cards
MC, Visa.
Prices
per room B&B single £170–£368, double £190–£408, D,B&B double £261–£480. À la carte £40. 1-night bookings usually refused weekends at peak times.
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