The Horn of Plenty

The name promises all manner of good things, and they certainly deliver at this dog-friendly hotel in a former Victorian mine captain’s house with glorious views over the ‘dramatic sweep of the Tamar valley’ and a long reputation for foodie excellence. Inside, it’s a mixture of traditional bedrooms in the main house, where a reader had a ‘comfortable bed, a sunken bath and separate shower’, and more stylish and contemporary in the coach house, with splashes of colour. Most bedrooms have a balcony or terrace, some with folding glass doors in a newer annexe. New chef Ashley Lewis’s menus showcase West Country ingredients in ‘top-notch’ dishes such as Brixham skate, wild mushrooms, black garlic and gnocchi, complemented by the sweeping views through floor-to-ceiling windows. ‘I had salmon, hake, and a cauliflower risotto, all excellent,’ reports a repeat visitor. ‘One of my favourite hotels.’ A word of praise this year from a reader who commends the management for declining his offer of payment when he cancelled his booking: ‘That speaks of a hotel that puts its customers first.’ (Peter Anderson, Sir Frank Berman, and others)