The best hotels in Devon
Weaving off the snail-paced A303 as Somerset makes way for Devon into those labyrinths of lanes heaving with wildflowers, you start to clock the fun: ice cream-coloured VW campervans bursting with kit, surfboards precariously balanced on the top of tired cars and bikes on racks ready for duty. Here is a county designed to have a good time, with its sprawling sandy beaches and rolling Atlantic surf to the north, the hidden turquoise coves along the south coast, and the great swathes of romantic Exmoor and Dartmoor inland. Where once it felt like there was a choice between windswept campsites or stiff country house hotels with delusions of grandeur, there’s a growing wave of places to stay here where the interiors are lust worthy, the food is raided from the West Country’s bountiful larder, and the attention to detail means the rule book is being rewritten for Devon hotels.
The best hotels in Devon:
Rachel Hoile1/12The Millbrook Inn
Greeting you in the village of South Pool at the end of a trip up the creek from Salcombe at high tide is the Millbrook Inn, where on lazy summer Sunday afternoons you might find a pirate folk band playing in the sun-drenched beer garden, or tables huddling over towering plates of organic roast beef inside when the weather turns. Owned by the Owens’ family, ingredients are sourced from their regenerative Fowlescombe Farm 15 miles away, with fish from Salcombe suppliers (day boat fish, samphire, new potatoes and parsley sauce is a go to). Small, organic and biodynamic producers are celebrated on the wine list, pints from local breweries are savoured at the bar and when a pillow beckons, there are two revamped cottages opposite the pub to decamp in to. Both sunlight-filled and pared back with white-washed walls, there’s Land Cottage which sleeps four and Sea Cottage which sleeps two: the perfect launchpads to discover the rolling South Hams.
South Pool, Kingsbridge TQ7 2RW
From £295 per night for a cottage
Jasmine Pillar Photography2/12The Beach Hut
Sturdy footwear encouraged, and all your belongings packed in a rucksack, The Beach Hut is reached down a steep path from Carswell Farm: a one-bedroom oasis in a secluded cove, hidden from the path above. Inside, a wood-burner roars, with exposed brick walls, sheepskin-lined hammocks to swing in looking out to sea and a double bed reached up a ladder. Pre-order a breakfast hamper with local ingredients for a no-holds-barred fry up, or a Devon cream tea with locally made scones, organic clotted cream and jams for a post swim pick-me-up. Back up the path at Carswell Farm, there’s a tempting roster of courses – seaweed foraging perhaps or learning to cook and preserve wild fruits – but really the idea here is to escape from the humdrum of reality, with a wood-fired hot tub to soak in outside the hut, and just the crashing waves as an alarm clock.
Holbeton, Plymouth, Devon PL8 1HL
From £910 for two nights
Jon Tonks3/12Fowlescombe Farm
Here’s the latest in a line of farm stays that makes any previous expectations of milling around in muddy wellies and patting a pig seem farcical. Instead, this is the British countryside in its most luxurious guise. The 10 suites are spread across the stone barns and Victorian farmhouse at Fowlescombe – where the estate dates back to the 16th century – reimagined by Swiss architects Studio Gugger. There are mattresses hand-crafted using wool from its flock of rare Manx Loaghtan sheep, English oak furniture, wood burners and sheepskin armchairs. Guests check in on a full board basis, with a daily changing menu in ‘The Refectory’ where the farm and kitchen garden’s ingredients are thrown into the spotlight (you can collect your own eggs from the coop for breakfast or pick botanicals for your evening gin). Pint-sized visitors will arrive to notebooks with their names on them, mini dressing gowns and personalised menus – but Fowlescombe’s ace card is its ability to tailor your stay however you like it, whether it’s guided walks over the moorland, yoga in the greenhouse or a barbeque in the fields that you’re dreaming of.
Ugborough, Ivybridge, Devon PL21 0HW
From £410 per night for a double
Finn Studio4/12Glebe House
Around every corner of Hugo and Olive Guest’s east Devon guest house is a visual masterpiece: the Charleston inspired painted wardrobe in the landing, the wild strawberries wallpaper by Honor Addington cleverly paired with a pink standalone bathtub, or one of Olive’s own abstract oils. This old Georgian vicarage perched on a hill overlooking the Coly Valley is where Hugo grew up, with his parents Emma and Chuck running it as a B&B (The Old Boys Room is a nod to Hugo and his brothers’ old domain). By 2020 Hugo had left his City job, retrained as a chef and returned home with his young family to transform Glebe and its 15-acre plot into a guest house and restaurant, inspired by the Italian agriturismos he’d visited. Each of the seven technicolour bedrooms (including a self-contained cabin and an annexe) have been cunningly curated by Olive with Ottoline wallpaper, marble lampshades and antique finds – the spare rooms you wish you had. Arriving through the plant-strewn garden room, there’s a hum of activity in the farmhouse kitchen, a drinks trolley in full swing and guests hiding with novels in nooks in the drawing room. Breakfast is the best kind of pared back (homemade sourdough, clotted cream-thick yoghurt and eggs cooked straight on the AGA) and dinner is a set menu (a mouthful of dulce brioche, brown crab and grilled cabbage perhaps, followed by tagliarini with monkfish ragu). There’s the temptation to sign yourself up to Glebe’s inventive roster of experiences – amongst them a kombucha workshop and mackerel fishing followed by dinner on the beach. But make time to flop by the pool or book a picnic (all made in house) and stride out down its driveway, armed with the whimsically illustrated walks book.
Southleigh, Colyton, Devon EX24 6SD
From £159 for a double per night
Taran Wilkhu5/12The Bull Inn
There is nothing half-hearted when it comes to sustainability at Geetie Singh-Watson’s Totnes pub: a short organic wine list, a vegetable-led menu, lime-plaster walls, vintage and second-hand furniture, mattresses made using organic fibres and Dartmoor wool, a heat recapture system, solar panels, eco sponges and a strict ban on cling film in the kitchen. It’s what you’d expect from the environmental entrepreneur, who over 25 years ago set up the first organic pub in London, the Duke of Cambridge in Islington, and is married to the founder of Riverford Organics Guy Singh-Watson. Opened in 2019 at the top of the high street overlooking Rotherfold square, there’s something refreshingly punchy about this place (its strapline is ‘Organic. Radical. Ethical’), a step away from the homogenised, safely tasteful line of pubs with rooms. And it’s fitting for forward-thinking Totnes, where the high street is littered with independent shops (swing by Small-Folk for sustainable toys and The Zero Waste Shop for wholefood refills). In the 18th-century inn’s nine rooms – as well as its four-bedroom apartment across the road – the bathroom flooring is made from linseed and hemp; lamps are from Devon furniture maker Rodney Lomas and organic hair products are by Tabitha James Kraan. If seasonal (and local) menus are now par for the course, The Bull means it, with spring asparagus from Riverford and summer courgettes from Green Ginger Organics.
102 High St, Rotherfold, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5SN
From £130 for a double per night
Alexander James6/12Cove Valley
Here is a slither of cathartic wilderness: three deliberately-hard-to-find cabins nestled in a 300-acre reserve and rewilding project on the edge of the Exmoor National Park. Under the eye of Tom Cox at HÁM and inspired by American ranch-style living each of the cabins – Hopi, Ukai and Chatan – are artfully decked out with rough wood panelling, heavy wool blankets, roaring wood burners and folk wall hangings. You’re in the unspoilt Exe Valley, but somehow transported to some sort of Catskill hideaway. Order a hamper of local supplies for arrival and a pizza kit for when the sun goes down, safely packed into a YETI backpack for you to haul up through the woods to the newly installed stargazing platform with its pizza oven. Each hut is purposefully grown up (under-12s aren’t allowed), packed with curiosities and antiques, with steaming hot showers, Somerset brand Commune soap and wood-fired hot tubs. The idea here is to press pause, falling into a gentle rhythm of anytime-outdoor baths and aimless walks, marvelling at the landscape which with neighbouring landowners is being restored to provide the habitat for an encyclopaedia-worth of wildlife.
Cove Down Farm, Tiverton, Devon EX16 7RU
From £225 per night for a cabin
7/12Gara Rock
Once a row of old coastguard cottages, Gara has become a beacon of sophistication on this rugged stretch of the south coast. It’s as much a haven for couples throwing off their walking boots after tackling the South West Coast Path as it is for bleary-eyed young families desperate to take their foot off the pedal. Overhauled from its former Fawlty Towers existence and reopened in 2018, the rooms are all rolltop baths and sheepskin rugs – a bit beach house, a bit Soho House. The jewel is the Penthouse, spanning two floors with three bedrooms, with its curved floor-to-ceiling windows framing this vignette of craggy smugglers’ coves. And it’s the same mesmerising view from the restaurant, where head chef Paul Hegley’s tasting menu might include seaweed crackers with baba ganoush, smoked Devon eel and Creedy Carver duck with plum, beetroot and dukkha. There’s also a laidback kitchen menu (expect a smart prawn Marie rose sandwich or a smashed cheeseburger), a menu for the pint-sized guests they’ll actually eat (warm pork and apple sausage rolls) and sofas in the bar to sink into next to a roaring wood burner. When the sun shines, there’s something exotic feeling about the outdoor pool dramatically perched on the clifftops – and when it doesn’t, you can safely hide in the indoor pool, velvet-clad 12-seater cinema or the spa with its Apothespa skincare (all handmade in nearby Totnes). Gara is big on luxury – but its finest weapon is the sandy beach reached down a winding path below the hotel, so remote-feeling that you forget that the polished Salcombe scene is only a hop away across the estuary.
East Portlemouth, Salcombe, Devon TQ8 8FA
From £320 per night for a double
8/12River Cottage Farmhouse
Staying in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s farmhouse down its bumpy single track might be the ultimate in some kind of bucolic utopia: an inglenook fireplace, no TVs, lines of military straight vegetables in raised beds to marvel at outside and sprawling views of the Axe Valley. This corner of east Devon, buffering up against Dorset, is proudly less fashionable than further west, gently doing its own thing year-round rather than waiting for an influx of summer tourists. But River Cottage is a destination in its own right with its A-Z of courses, from foraging and bee keeping to curing and charcuterie – as well as Hugh’s fabled long table feasts, where the walled garden and polytunnels are plundered for produce. The 17th-century farmhouse (exposed beams and cool flagstone floors) was restored in 2019, with the two-bedroom adjoining Gardener’s Cottage following in 2021, and the Cabin designed as an off-grid retreat with its cold-water outdoor shower. In the farmhouse, wake up to the smell of coffee brewing, sourdough toasting and a spread of River Cottage kombucha, organic cereal and jam laid out. For a heartier breakfast head to the Kitchen restaurant at the top of the hill (think spiced porridge with ginger and rhubarb compote or River Cottage’s own sage and onion chipolatas), where there’s a temptingly lowkey lunch menu as well (bubble and squeak with garden greens or pearl barley kedgeree).
Park Farm, Trinity Hill Road, Axminster, Devon EX13 8TB
From £160 for a double per night
9/12Hotel Endsleigh
Crawling towards the 19th century Hotel Endsleigh, mist steadily lingering over the Tamar Valley, this former summer home of Georgiana, Duchess of Bedford is the perfect dose of old-fashioned grand. There’s the wood-panelled library to hide in with Zadie Smith or PG Wodehouse, the showstopper afternoon tea (smoked salmon and cream cheese finger sandwiches, strawberry Victoria slice, fruit scones…), the pre-dinner cocktails next to a roaring fire in the drawing room and the bespoke Wedgewood crockery. Part of hotel wizard and designer Olga Polizzi’s collection (with Hotel Tresanton in Cornwall and The Star in East Sussex), each of the 21 rooms have been individually decorated with hand painted wallpaper, chaise longues, woodburners and upholstered armchairs amongst them. The Duchess of Bedford had grown up in Scotland and hankered after it long after, which explains Hotel Endsleigh’s air of a Highland lodge, with views of the boisterous River Tamer and a boot room stocked with rods and waders (a ghillie is on hand to go fishing). Olga admits to buying Endsleigh 20 years ago with her heart more than her head, hypnotised by the fairy tale magic of the place with its Humphry Repton follies and grottos spread across 100 acres – and just the sound of birdsong to wake you up.
Milton Abbot, Tavistock, Devon PL19 0PQ
From £270 per night for a double
10/12Rest + Wild Exmoor
As you park your car in this spot at the foothills of Exmoor, you’re armed with a torch and trolley. It’s an uphill, 200m walk to your cabin – but that’s the secret to this place, with each of the five cabins standing in their own field. Equipped with just a stack of logs and kindling for the wood burner and outdoor fire pit, a pick of books, deck of cards, game of chequers – and crucially no WiFi, these are boltholes to disconnect from reality. Inside it’s uncluttered: dark panelling, copper splash backs above the sink, rows of Kilner jars and sheepskin throws. You could happily spend your stay alternating between the king-sized bed with its linen sheets and cinema-like window framing untamed Exmoor, and the copper outdoor bathtub, immersing yourself under the inky black skies at night. The cabins are self-catered, but you can have yours pre-loaded with Terlingham wine from Kent and Ludlow Brewing Co. beers – and the thatched pub The Masons Arms is a 15-minute drive away when you’re after some smarter fare. Set out across the open moorland to Exmoor’s highest peak Dunkery Beacon for 360-degree views. Or plunge into the River Barle under the medieval Landacre bridge a short drive away, before retreating to the blissful silence of your cabin.
Molland, Devon EX36 3NB
From £400 for two nights
James Merrell11/12The Pig at Combe
It’s easy to become blasé about the mastery of what Robin and Judy Hutson have done for country-house hotels with their string of informal Pig hotels, so familiar do those low-slung velvet sofas and dimly lit bars become. But its outpost in the Otter Valley is a showpiece of the eye they’ve had for bringing decaying piles back to life. Sweep up the drive on a sunny evening and there’s a summer party buzz on the terrace outside the toffee-coloured Elizabethan house here, with groups devouring stacks of ‘Piggy bits’ (crackling and apple sauce or ham croquettes) with a Combe Seasonal Fizz (rhubarb shrub and Langlois Cremant De Loire). The Pig’s 25-mile menu – where it sources any ingredients it can’t grow as locally as possible – is easy to fulfil here with its three immaculate walled gardens and the coast just 15 minutes away. Expect a Dartmoor chop with shaved fennel and mustard sauce perhaps, or lemon sole with braised little gem from Lyme Bay. Upstairs it’s the luxuriously familiar roll top baths, velvet ottomans and walk-in monsoon showers. But there are quirks too: The Horsebox room is on the ground floor of the stable yard with the original partitions; or there’s the Stream Wagons with their woodburning stoves next to the bubbling River Gitt at the bottom of the drive.
Gittisham, Honiton, Devon EX14 3AD
From £325 for a double per night
12/12Hope Cove House
Surfboards are left leaning by the door and salty wetsuits discarded in a heap here – which is exactly what restaurateur Oli Barker and his wife Alexandra might have hoped for when they left London and opened this laid-back seaside guesthouse in 2019. Tucked on the South West Coast Path west of Salcombe, just above the sandy Inner Hope beach, swimmers and paddleboarders descend on the terrace for plates of anchovies with rosemary oil and lemon and bowls of spaghetti vongole, with cold bottles of Salcombe Brewery ale. Inside the nine bedrooms are refreshingly no-frills: cast-iron beds, crisp white cotton sheets, Aesop soap, Roberts radios and wildflowers, with views out to sea replacing the need for a TV. The turquoise bay below is close enough to make the pre-breakfast dip a reality, before returning for stacks of eggs, bacon and avocado, and slurps of Allpress coffee next to the woodburning stove in the dining room. This is a corner of Devon for sailing and surfing, kayaking and crabbing, but it’s equally tempting to stay put on Hope Cove’s terrace, watching the day unfold on the beach like a play in slow time.
Inner Hope, Kingsbridge, Devon TQ7 3HH
From £175 for a double per night
