Stayed one night in the annex above the bistro.

The spacious rooms had been 'upgraded' with little more than cosmetic paint. The mattress was tired and uncomfortable; we did not choose to look under the sheet.

A grumpy manageress of the Bistro downstairs failed to hide her distain and arrogance towards us, which created a sour note. I would not like to use these rooms when the Bistro was open- we could hear the staff's music very clearly.

These rooms were more expensive than in the main house so I guess they should be better.

Immediately outside of the rooms is a garden with a pool overlooking the sea, but signs all over the place say that this garden and pool is only for the owners. This only emphasised my feeling that my money was more welcome than I was.

I agree with the other reviewers that I was paying too much for average accommodation.

Shame- great location.

tomjwise at aol dot com

The three reviews below mine are pretty spot on. Overpriced for definite. Maybe like one reviewer suggested the good reviews all stayed in room 21, however if you had stayed in the room we did there is no way you could give a good review, postage stamp about sums it up. Very cheap and Tacky doors and furniture, the very barest of essentials, cheap 14" TV stuck on a wall bracket, no heating controls and leaded single glazed windows. 1 "bedside light" which was actually on eof those cheap spotlight bulbs screwed onto the headboard! Breakfast OK but nothing special. As many people have said it is nothing like the website so dont be fooled.
In the (tiny) residents bar area, there is an open fire - however forget any ideas of crackling log fires, as the owners have seen fit to stick a throwback to the 70's electric "coal effect" fire (IE bits of plastic with an orange light bulb in there. I realise that it was supposed to be summer when i visited (was freezing though), however this looks so tacky, if you have no plans to light a fire, just stick some flowers there.
As for Lulworth Cove itself, I have to say that on a bright hot sunny day it might be very pleasant, but with typical english weather there is very little to do. Although It is a good base for walking. The other pub in the Cove - Lulworth Inn, belongs in Benidorm. Ear splitting music and local louts being the main clientele. We ventured up to the village of West Lulworth to the pub there. A bit more traditional, but the food was sooo expensive (captive market I guess so just rip people off - £6.80 for a jacket potato!)
Needless to say we wont be going back to any of these places.

stayed one night at the beach hotel in may 2008
paid over the top simply we think for the location - it is 200 yards from the cove so when the day trippers leave then peace descends which is lovely
However there was a distinct lack of care about the whole place it is NOT like the photos on their website
we had a room that was supposed to be refurbished - this meant old metal framed windows with mould , a cold room in the morning , overlooking a duck pond which is the other side of the main pedestranised route to the cove so everyone stops to look and chat , all hanging baskets dying, inside the room was just about adequate with a door knob missing off a very cheap wardrobe, faux coverlet , stained seat and a room and bathroom over a burger place so the bathroom smelt of old cooked grease
breakfast menu - out of the ceral we wanted so we had second choice

would not suggest a stay here

we had a fab stay in "little court " near Athlehampton a guest house and would highly recommend staying there

The hotel is in an amazing location and could be fantastic, but sadly there a few things which let it down.

The room (24) was nice and large with a very comfortable bed, and views over the duck pond (complete with ducklings!) The finish of the room however was not up to much, but could easily be remedied - missing doornob on the wardrobe, bath tap & plug needs repairing as does the sink tap (hot = cold and cold = hot), only 1screw (out of a possible 4) held the door handle on to the bathroom door so was slightly concerned I would get locked in! The [cheap] bathroom door was also really scuffed at the bottom and therefore needed replacing. The bedside lights looked great, but were impossible to turn on as the lampshade was too big.

The guest sitting room was fantastic - two large comfy sofas and sea views.

The food in the restaurant was ok (average), but very overpriced. Likewise breakfast was ok, but not what you would expect for £95 a night.

We won't be going back or recommending to anyone.