The Seaside Boarding House

There’s more than an air of Cape Cod about this white clapboard hotel above Chesil Beach, which could have come straight out of an Edward Hopper painting. Mary-Lou Sturridge and Tony Mackintosh left London’s Groucho Club to create this cool Jurassic Coast bolt-hole, with sea-facing bar and restaurant opening on to a terrace. Regulars tell us it’s ‘as good as ever, always a joy to visit’. The stripped-back interiors are enlivened with marine salvage, nautical paintings and antique-shop finds. The dashing young officer whose portrait hangs above the fire in the library is Mary-Lou’s grandfather; the furniture is from her mum’s house. Bedrooms, all in sight and sound of the sea, have a Roberts radio, books, a great bathroom with claw-footed bath and walk-in shower, but no TVs to detract from the views. If you fancy champagne or a cappuccino just pick up the retro dial phone. At lunch and dinner, short menus are devised by Alastair Little with new head chef Seldon Curry to appeal to all tastes. Maybe venison with beetroot ketchup; lemon sole, clams and chard; beetroot and onion tart. And how about cocktails or a cream tea outside?