Good Hotel Guide Review
‘Move over restaurants-with-rooms’, this boutique guest house is ‘all about wine with rooms’, writes our inspector. Occupying an Italianate Victorian villa overlooking the promenade, it’s a new venture for restaurateurs Ashley and Tom Fahey. Six ‘beautifully designed’ sea-view bedrooms mix original features with custom-made panelling, modern furniture and art. Room 2 had ‘two large windows with seats just made for curling up with a good book’, a palette of grey, blue and sand. ‘A headboard partition separated bedroom from bathroom, which had an impressive shower.’ From Tuesday to Friday they serve a lunch of bread, cheese, charcuterie and nibbles in a conservatory with retractable roof. At 5 pm, Tom conducts a guided tasting in a wine room, ‘like a library of old, with ladders to reach the 520 bottles lining the walls’. In the off season, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Tom also cooks a no-choice tasting menu of dishes such as crab and lobster ravioli, lobster bisque, lobster oil, carrot. Breakfast is ‘a four-course extravaganza, which starts with a sausage roll’ (meat or veggie) and ends with ‘a minimalist take on the full English’.
Hotel details
Address
St Augustine Villa, Esplanade
Ventnor
PO38 1TA
England
Telephone
phone line applied for
Bedrooms
6. 1 in annexe.
Open
all year. Dinner Sept–Apr, Thurs, Fri, Sat. Private hire only, Christmas and New Year.
Facilities
lounge, bar, pergola, wine library, terrace, in-room TV, allocated parking space.
Background music
'quiet, non-intrusive'.
Children
all ages welcome in annexe room, over 12s in main house (futon £20).
Dogs
welcome in annexe room and pergola (no charge, bowl provided).
Credit cards
Amex, MC, Visa.
Prices
B&B doubles from £200, singles from £170. Set-price dinner £80 (no vegan or dairy free), matched wine £50.