The accommodation was ok. The watersports were non-existent when it came to Sunfish and Windsurfing, equipment borken, no apology or alternative. No urgency to fix.

Nearby St. James' club has excellent watersports.

The new accommodation or old beach front accommodation is at the bottom of a very steep road leading back to the restaraunt/bar/reception. They have car/van shuttle, but really this should be made clear in their publicity.

Restaraunt over-priced and banking on the fact it is arduous to go anywhere else without transport.

We stayed there 5th – 14th April, in one of the Hilltop Cottage rooms. For us, the Inn at English Harbour was like the little girl with the curl. “When she was good she was very, very good. But when she was bad she was horrid!”

The good:

The pool, poolside area and the beach are delightful – lots of shade, lovely clean sands and real palm trees, pretty hammocks, hideaway gazebos, plenty of loungers and shade. Gardens lovely, visiting egrets, flowers, books to borrow from the hotel library – a real pleasure to let a day drift by down there.

The water-taxi arrangement is excellent and lots of people appeared to enjoy it. Dignified and courteous boatman. Free use of towels, kayaks, flippers, etc. all add to the feeling of good value in this area of the hotel.

Beach Bar – lunch here is excellent – very good food indeed, reasonable prices, good wine-list, fresh flowers, delightful service and setting. The only mystery is why it closes at 5 o’clock.

Breakfast – the continental “included” breakfast is good and good value. The ladies who work in the Beach Bar are simply delightful – pleasant, kind, courteous; the sort of staff any hotel should kill for!

The library and Stone Bar are pleasant and full of character. Appetisers which came with first rounds of drinks were welcome and very good too.

The not-so-good …

Cottage rooms are big and airy, delightfully cool after a hot day on the beach and, best of all, have truly magnificent views from their romantic, peaceful balconies. The furniture is perhaps a bit on the basic side but the little paths, the door-knockers, the garden flowers, the passing goats and the birdlife all added to the pleasure of staying there.

However, the bathroom – and, in particular, the shower – was a disgrace to any hotel which has pretensions towards international standards. This is a four-star hotel with four-star prices. Yet our shower simply didn’t work – the best that could be coaxed out of it was a very slight trickle. The drains blocked twice, resulting in dirty water around the ankles. They had to be unblocked, resulting in vile smells and dirt all over the floor, which was left until the following day. An army of ants crept up and down the walls and there was ingrained dirt lodged in all the corners. On asking for the shower to be fixed, we were told this wasn’t possible.

We often spent the day on the beach, returning to our room sticky, hot and sandy. Not to provide a reasonable washing facility is simply unacceptable. There’s a request in the hotel handbook for ladies to wear “smart, elegant evening dresses” in the restaurant – try doing that when you’ve still got sand stuck where it shouldn’t be and cannot wash your hair for a week!

The Terrace Restaurant has one of the nicest settings on the island – but the food is sadly not up to scratch. We dined there on our first night and felt the meal too poor to merit a second visit.

Wine list – reasonable – but why hide the house wines at the back of the list as if you were ashamed of them?

Restaurant provision generally was a bit of a puzzle to us. Even if the Terrace had been of good quality, nobody would wish to eat the same kind of food every night. Had the Beach Bar been available in the evenings (and it would be lovely down there, with cloths and candles and the sea lapping) – we should have eaten on the premises several more times than we did. Like many other guests, we went to English Harbour most nights for dinner. Room service appeared to comprise the same dinner menu with a surcharge slapped on.

Front desk – most of the ladies were perfectly pleasant; one was, frankly, rude. Unfortunately name tags were not used. One example – we came to request our key, which we had deposited earlier. She repeatedly denied that we had done so, although we politely said that we thought we remembered leaving it. Finally, her colleague pointed out that the key was there, under her desk papers. She picked it up, crashed it on to the counter wordlessly, and turned her back on us. Unacceptable standards.

These complaints sound rather bad but in fact we had a lovely holiday – if the Terrace restaurant and the cottage showers could be sorted out, we would have no hesitation in recommending the Inn to friends.

We stayed at The Inn over New Year 03/04 arriving New Year Eve. Warm welcome and lovely room, new block deluxe suite. the New Year Eve gala Dinner at $130 per head was a non event, most people went to bed before midnight. The following day the sun shone and all appeared great. Beautiful location, friendly staff but where were the management? the breakfast buffet is poor with little choice, the evening menu in the main restaurant at the top of the hill is over fussy. While the staff try and do things right there are no managers making sure it happens. It took three phone calls to get a car to pick us up from ouyr room to take us to the top, the bar was unattended and the meal delivery slow. To summarise, the location is fabulous, the new room are very comfortable and clean but thereafter service is erratic. A four atr resort charging five star prices and offering three star service

Just come back from a week at the Inn, and had to say what a great stay we had. It is set on Galleon Beach round the corner from nelson's Dockyard,an old colonial dockyard still very much in tact which has some great restaurants (try Cap Horn, Southern Cross or The Last Lemming). the rooms are big and have ceiling fans - could do with proper air con but didn't really matter. Has cable tv and great shower also. The well tendered garden in front leads down to great beach which has hardly anyone on it. the breakfast/lunch bar is fine and the staff very friendly. The terrace resturant was fine - very relaxed and food good on both occasions we went there. The manager introduced himself to us on arrival which was a nice touch as well. The only thing to watch out for is mosquitos. bring some anti-histamine tablets as bites can be a problem, and buy the local repellant spray called OFF. They also arranged car hire for us which is great to see a beautiful island. I am sure we will return