I booked this hotel on the back of their sister hotel in Salcombe, where I had stayed previously. We had booked a family room for two days in January. We own an hotel ourselves and January is the only time we can get away for the whole year, so for this break we wanted somewhere special, that was kid friendly and didn't seem to be too "posh" that the kids couldn't enjoy themsleves (14, 10 and 6). The benefit of the spa was the plus point, as was our previous experience at their sister hotel last year.

After booking it - I then looked at Trip Advisor and I was quite shocked by some of the grim reports.

We turned up expecting the worst.

Arrival was a dream - they don't have a car park outside the hotel, but it was no problem, the very friendly concierge took it to their car park for us. I believe that a car park is being built opposite the hotel (but don't quote me on that - it was something my wife heard)

The reception staff were excellent - indeed all of the staff at the hotel get an A**** from me - they were all professional, polite - just perfect. Couldn't fault one of them

The room was one of their family rooms (118) mentioned in a previous report. The room was fine, a little tired, could have done with a touch up here and there, but was by no means bad. The window was a bit grubby. The bathroom - prefect. It passed what I call the black bath sealant test. The TV could have been mounted on the wall, but not that bad. Bed - very comfortble. Wifi didn't work, but it seemd there was some work being done to rectify this - repeaters were being installed. O2 phone reception - none

There is a building site next door to the hotel, it's getting near to completion, so that problem should go away soon, but it didn't effect us in any way. That's not the hotel's fault

The Bar - was gorgeous, fantastic place to relax before dinner, yes it was expensive £9.50 for a double G&T - That's why I only had the one - and sipped it!! Slightly lesser price and I would have probably spent more in the long run. The bar wasn't busy - probably becasue of the price.

We were booked for Dinner B&B. The restaurant was nice, the staff were very professional and attentive, the food was fine - not The Ritz, but better than most. Previous reports pointed to a it being unprofessional, not at all - the service was excellent, the food was fine. Wine was a little expensive for the quality - their cheapest bottle of whte (Pinot) was about £19 The restaurant was about 2/3'rds full on the days we were there. View from the restaurant is great.

My only gripe - which I think was a mistake - was on the 2nd day, I ordered a cheese board for desert. It said Cornish Cheeses. I received a piece of Cornish Brie, Cornish Blue and another cheese I didn't recognise at first glance , which was very hard. I tried it and it was hard to chew, then after a couple of mouthfulls I realised it was parmesan, the solid form, which (in my opinion) is for grating, not a cheese board and is about as Cornish as Ronald McDonald. But I would put this down as an error in the kitchen. I didn't mention it at the time, the opportunity never arose, but other than that small glitch - everyhting was great. One previous review moaned about 9 chips. Yes I also got 9 chips with my steak, but that is the style of the meal. I have had that at other "gormet" restaurants also. The steak was perfect (no steak knife though)

The Spa - was amazing. However having kids we were only allowed in between 10am and 11am, then 3:30pm to 5pm. Which is enough - HOWEVER - At 3:25pm my wife took the kids down to the spa, I came a few minutes later to be told that the spa was full and they couldn't take any more people - I pointed out that my wife and kids were already in there and that she had signed me in, so the lady allowed me in - but she was turning people away. The pool had about 20 people, about 50% were children. I would say we were probably the only family with kids staying at the hotel, so I can only assume that the rest were local members, which is normal. Had we as a family turned up at the spa at 3:30pm (5 mins later) we would have been turned away. This would have been a MAJOR upset. When we left the spa at 4:30pm, the resecptionist was still turning people away. She said that she is issued with a certain number cards for the changing room lockers, which are given to each visitor and once they had all been handed out she wasn't allowed to let any more people in. Bit odd - as most of the lockers in the changing room were empty. The pool and gym were not full

I think the management should take a look into this. As the time for families to be allowed into the spa was very limited anyway, but had we been turned away there would have been a major upset and I would have left the hotel and not paid. I imagine that in the peak season this is going to cause major problems. I would suggest the management have a rethink. The Spa is new - so it's a learning

In conclusion it seems to me that this hotel has either been taken over by the Harbour Group fairly recently - or it's had some money put into it. Some of the rooms ( the ones you see on their website) have been re-furbished. I would hope that there is still some money left to refurbish all of the hotel to the standard of the bar and spa. Continued renovation would turn this place into a gem.

All in all - would I go back? 70% - 30% yes. If there is the spa problem - then no - I wouldn't risk it.