Hell Bay Hotel

You have to island-hop to reach this New England-style hotel on the rugged Atlantic west side of the smallest of the inhabited Isles of Scilly, but once there, the sense of escape is blissful. ‘A lovely hotel,’ writes a reader, commending ‘excellent food, great rooms, friendly, efficient staff’. It began life as a farmhouse and occupies clapboard buildings, painted white and powder blue. Interiors have a palette of blues and shell pinks, with Lloyd Loom furniture, seascapes by Cornish artists. Some have a private patio, others a balcony from which to watch the sunset. You can eat casually in the bar (maybe bouillabaisse, fish and chips or chargrilled steak), with messy glee on freshly landed shellfish in the rustic Crab Shack, or in style in the restaurant, where Richard Kearsley’s short menus might bring a choice of smoked tomato risotto; treacle-cured salmon, lemongrass and ginger purée; sugar-and-citrus-smoked duck. ‘We appreciated the little touches like a kitchenette in our room, the opportunity to have a “pub dinner”, and a lift to the boat in the rain.’ (Yvette Peart)