With ‘epic’ views across to Tresco and Bryher, the Francis family’s ‘really good hotel’ combines ‘a great setting’ with ‘fabulous historic features’. A fortification from the age of Sir Francis Drake, it now welcomes guests with a range of ‘wonderful comfy’ bedrooms. Some, in the original 16th-century castle and ramparts, have a quirky shape, perhaps original beams, a half-tester bed. Most occupy two modern garden annexes with country cottage-style decor, some with sea views and a veranda. While ‘nicely decorated, with extremely comfortable beds’, one regular reader felt they ‘lacked any wow factor’. Chef Billy Littlejohn’s locally sourced, modern British menus, using lobster caught by the owner, and garden vegetables, are served in the vine-hung conservatory and the castle dining room, with wine from the hotel vineyard. A typical dish: local brill, samphire, garlic purée, caramelised onion tart, king oyster mushrooms, scallops, truffle butter sauce. Long-serving staff are ‘friendly, highly professional’. The old stone-walled dungeon is now a bar. Outside, guests enjoy island-hopping, swimming with seals, and free access to ‘the UK’s loveliest golf course’. (AK-H, and others)