Booked through Mr and Mrs Smith at £250 a night for room 6 - firstly the good news - it was my fiancés treat for her birthday and the hotel itself was in an unbeatable setting and if the Rhododendrons had been out it would have made her birthday!

The bad news is that the staff were just nowhere near the standard required for the price. We ordered tea from the restaurant manager and he forgot - mistakes with food orders for breakfast, we had to get the manager to come and shut the blind in the room as the maid had broken it and told nobody, food was slow to arrive in the evening, and the receptionist proceeded to call a colleague to complain about not having a key returned whilst I was in the middle of paying for a bill that included a paper I hadn't received which was blamed on the local Post Office. If there is one thing that I hate is people blaming poor performance on a third party, and then saying it happened all of the time but on Sundays they made a special effort and someone drove to the next town to pick up papers!

We stayed at Bovey Castle last year and the service was as it should be for an establishment with these sorts of prices!

We stayed at Hotel Endsleigh for 3 nights in late June. The location is superb, the staff very friendly and professional and the whole experience was wonderful. We stayed at the Gatekeeper's lodge (very comfortable bed - loved the bathroom). This was our first trip with our 3 month son and the staff were very attentive to our needs. A lovely lady at the reception also offered to babysit so we had our fist meal together as a couple! The food (especially the deserts) and the wine was really good. We will definitely stay there again.

We stayed at The Endsleigh in May. Probably the best time to visit as the azaleas and rhododendrons fill the stunning valley with colour. We had great weather, so could enjoy lazing around on the lawn with a paper, wandering around the landscaped grounds, lying on a rock in the river or simply sitting at a table outside gawping at the view - not another house in sight.


I'd been slightly concerned about some of the reviews I read here, but the service we got was excellent - maybe the Maitre D' could have been a bit smarter and less superficial at times but the other staff were spot on - there when you needed them, but invisible when you didn't.

The food was first class.
Breakfast can be taken inside or out - if the weather is good, go outside and start your day with one of the most relaxing views you can find. There's a large choice for breakfast, so it should set you up for the day. We also took afternoon tea on the terrace - very good, lots of choice from the tea table (so we did pig out) and cheap (£8 for residents)
The dinner menu is small but very good (£40). They catered for my vegetarian diet well, although one night I did get served the same vegetables for my starter and main course (but they were prepared differently and very delicious - the tempura rivaled Nobu)
We don't drink, so can't comment on the wine list.

Small details, like a large supply of wellington boots, wet weather gear and plastic backed rugs to use on the lawns were all good quality stuff.

The public areas of the hotel were comfy and well decorated NOT modern, but in keeping with the style of the house and nicely candlelit at night.... Open fires gave the place a lovely wood smell that permeated throughout.

We stayed in the lodge, which gave us complete privacy. It's at the entrance to the hotel (obviously), which is just off a very quiet country lane, with adjacent rape seed fields. It's a good 20 mins walk down hill to the hotel from the lodge and a longer stagger back up again, so to be honest we did drive a few times, but the hotel did offer to ferry us back up if we wanted to drink. The drive was beautiful and we saw baby badgers at night as we went back up to the lodge.

The lodge itself looks prettier from the outside than it is inside, although it is very comfy - I guess the furnishings are 'eclectic' - i.e. they felt like bits and pieces that had been collected over years and thrown together here with no great apparent reason other than they existed and were required. But the furnishings were all in good condition and there were some nice fabrics - the bedlinen was good quality. The lodge is thatched with it's own little private garden. Inside there's a living room (with real wood burner, sky tv, dvd, fridge, kettle etc), a dressing room with another sofa and dressing table, double bedroom (very comfy bed, sky tv), lots of cupboards and wardrobes / chests etc. The bathroom is small but very well maintained - roll top bath, power shower etc - but the views from the windows are lovely. You can lie in the bath with the sun pouring in - from the shower you can see the pheasants and rabbits on the lawns. Outside there's a small table and chairs in the garden - and a dog's water bowl. This would be a good place to stay if you have dogs and want them to have their own safe area to be in - unless they chase rabbits and birds, in which case forget it, they'll find a way through the hedgerow in hot pursuit (the garden has stone wall or railings on all other sides). There are lanterns outside and night lights supplied for them. We lit the real fire each night and the next day the supply of wood and coal would be replenished.

We'd recommend the Endsleigh to anyone wanting to relax in the countryside for the weekend - it's more croquet and tea on the lawn than most places we stay (we normally go for more media type hotels) but we loved the Endsleigh.

If the weather is bad though, I guess there isn't much to do if you don't like walking in the rain or reading a book by the fire.....

Let's start with the reviews that gave 5 out of 5 but only in as much as location and ambience which were both truly stunning - what a wonderful begining to our two day break!

A young and very attentive porter took our luggage to room 14 and on our arrival was as stunned as we were; the very quaint room with the small double bed centrally located looking towards the window may well be suitable for honeymoners but not a 17 stone ex-rugby player in the youth of old age!!

A most helpful receptionist was immediately sympathetic and allowed us to check out several rooms that were available including suite 2.

Not being too fussed over the costs, we went for suite 2. Althought bizarre without any front door, ,as previously cited , the king size bed was most agreeable. From then on however matters took a further turn for the less than satisfactory. As I sat on the bed feeling especially proud of myself for treating my lovely and younger wife, a baby started to cry and scream! What joy!!

Again the receptionist came to our rescue. Just as well as the family in suite 1 immediately beneath our suite were staying at the hotel for the duratrion of our stay.

With other rooms not having a view that could equal our view at home, we returned to the bijou 14. After a wonderful meal and evening, albeit that the service was rather hit and miss, we retired for the night. only to be woken at around 3 am by the noice of someone snoring nearby. What joy!! Having almost suffocated ourselves with the pillows to drown the awful snoring and adopting the spoon position for lack of space, we finally returned to our slumber only to be woken at 7am by the noise of the central heating . Although it was only air in the bathroom pipe work discovered after a great deal of investigation, the sound was reminisicent of a rugby scrum. All matter of rude sounding grunts and groans. At first, we thought that the phantom snorer may have had a touch of Delhi belly!

We left after breakfast and returned to our little haven called home.

5 star no. 3 star , then only if you take sleeping pills or drink yourself to sleep.

To sum up, it is like paying for business class on a flight, only to have nouveau riche children treating the cabin as a play area.