The Royal Hotel

On a hillside overlooking subtropical gardens, with sweeping sea views, the Royal started life as a coaching inn in 1832, and went on growing. When a hotel offers a farewell break weekend, as it did in May 2023, to celebrate a long-serving employee’s retirement, and a young mixologist creates a cocktail in her name, it tells you all about its ethos. ‘Our beloved Di’, 79, had worked here for three decades, and some devotees have been coming here for longer. It’s old-fashioned in many of the best ways, although one reader felt we should warn that they host coach parties, and another disliked the piped music. The ‘great bedrooms’ are classic and comfortable rather than boutique, and you can still dine amid chandeliers and stripes in Geranium restaurant on, for example, a traditional fish of the day with asparagus, black aioli and roasted purple potato, or perhaps try the exciting tasting menu in Se7en. One reader on a ten-night stay was charmed when the restaurant offered to cook off-menu dishes for them. Staff are ‘unfailingly helpful and friendly’. ‘Breakfast offers good choice, all orders came promptly, and were clearly freshly prepared.’ (Peter Davies, David Sowden)