We spent a week over Easter at Dar Mimosas. It is difficult to write a review of this place as it is not really a hotel, more an upmarket B&B, which I think the owner imagines is an exclusive boutque hotel. The prices would be fine if it was - as we expected - a luxurious and restful little hideaway hotel, which is how it promotes itself.

First all the good points. It is a stunningly designed and lovingly cared for place. From the wonderfully understated entrance through a small door in a huge gate to the beautiful gardens, elegant pool with giant white umbrellas and delightful dining terrace, it just oozes Moroccan chic. Apart from a riot of colourful flowers and trees, the garden has an aviary, rabbits, turtles, tortoises, chickens and a peacock.

When we arrived, the French owner was there and noticed immediately that my husband has a slight walking problem and suggested that the room with a lovely view which he had assigned us would not be suitable as it was up a long steep staircase and that he would have another garden room ready in an hour. This was much appreciated after a tense 3 hour transfer from Marrakech dodging mad truck drivers in a taxi with no seatbelts!

The 3 main staff - a morning and an evening waiter and a receptionist were utterly charming and helpful.

Our room had been newly refurbished and we had a big comfy double bed, sitting area with 2 armchairs, a fireplace (which they layed every day and we used every night) and a pretty little garden enclosed by a high wall. There was also a TV but it was not connected to any aerial (!!) just a DVD player. If we had known we
would have brought a few films to watch in front of the fire. There was a little fridge but it would have been nice to have a kettle as well to make a cup of tea without having to ring the main house and have it sent over. It was cold when we were there and we were very glad the room also had a big electric heater/aircon unit. I think some of the other rooms had no heating and this would have been grim.

The most astonishing and disappointing aspect was the fact that there is no menu (apart from drinks/wine). At breakfast you have to say whether you want lunch and/or dinner and exactly what you want. There was no menu - you just sort of give a vague desrcription and hope for the best. The charge is flat, for a pricy 3 course dinner, whether you want it or not. We never eat desert and really only want one course in the evening. It was explained that they shopped every day and didn't want any leftovers. This might not be too bad if you only stay a couple of days and are out sightseeing all day, but if you are spending longer it is a complete pain. Who wants to decide, on holiday, exactly what they are doing for the rest of the day at breakfast? We mostly had lunch out in town but didn't fancy the grotty taxi ride to town in the dark for dinner and then struggling to find one to come back so we finished up eating much the same thing each night for a ridiculous price. (Not a patch on the Sofitel's beachfront restaurant).

Finally, during our week I think there was only one other couple staying. The rest were families, although I didn't think it was very family-friendly (a distance from the beach and a swimming pool with a 2.3 meter deep shallow end). This wasn't too bad when they were mostly little girls skipping around and petting the turtles but was hell when the boys wth footballs arrived, kicked them all over the lovely gardens and generally invaded the place.
One day I counted 11 small children on the the dining terrace which only has 6 tables. No matter how well behaved they are, this does rather detract from the romance of the place. We had rather hoped for a relaxed house-party type atmosphere but it was more like a smart kindergarten.

Stayed in Essaouira (which I still can't spell properly most of the time) for four nights last year and I think I'm still paying off my credit card bill! It does have stunning stunning gardens with a beautiful pool and a lush garden that probably leaves the rest of the town on constant drought alert with the constant watering that goes on there. You take breakfast (included in the monster bill) every morning under an arched terrace that overlooks the garden and pool - all tres francais - baguettes/croissants/lovely coffee/freshly squeezed juices and perhaps not so francais are the very polite staff. This nicely sets you up to go walkabout on the miles of stunning beach - I have been all over the world and seen some picture perfect beaches but the wild unspoilt and often empty beach if you walk away from the town are truly truly stunning. Or you can kite surf which looks fun but only if you don't mind having your arms ripped out of their sockets/camel ride/horse ride or bike ride. We walked and due to the beauty of the place didn't realise we were exhausted until we returned to our room.

The room - ours was blanc et bleu basically - blue and white and more blue and white stylishly used and again you get a definite sense that Parisians have got together with their Morrocan pals to decorate this place. Huge bathroom (blue and white tiles) with separate shower. About the size of your average London flat. Bedroom (blue and white tiles/blue and white bed-linen/blue and white nik-naks - are you sensing a theme) - lovely bed with moroccan ceramics everywhere. A little sun-terrace for me and the missus to lounge on after eating too many pies. The place is beautiful but one critique would be the price which I think is too much even for somewhere this decked out. The staff are really very good and attentive but there is a feeling of being in someone's home sometimes which may or may not be up your street but I'd have thought for the money the people who run the place should feel like they're in your home instead.

Essaouira is a great place and this is without doubt the best place to stay albeit slightly out of town, but the staff are happy to call taxis or you can walk if your feeling guilty about that extra croissant for brekky. The people are friendly and the place takes on a mysterious air as night draws in and the fog rolls in off the sea. I loved it. My credit card company probably do too and I recommend you buy shares in Mastercard because I'll be paying them interest on this trip until forever.

We never ate dinner at Dar Mimosas but it looked and smelt pretty good - we preferred to explore the town at night. We did eat lunch there which again was pretty pricey if you compare it to local restaurants but the healthy plates of vegetables and funny bean things were excellent even though I am a self confessed carnivore. They probably added a couple of years to my life which will give me more time to pay off my credit card I suppose.