Just stayed at heddons gate hotel for our anniversary it was very good, peaceful, beautiful, well maintained, friendly staff, good food, comfortable room.

We endorse the positive reports for this hotel with enthusiasm after a 5-night May visit there. We'd also emphasise the excellent food and the wonderful country at this long established favourite hotel of ours.

We've known it since the 1970s, but due working and living abroad, hadn't visited for 11 years. It was therefore marvellous to return and find it as good as ever. The current owners started there four years ago and are only the second owners in 40 years. They are clearly sticking to a proven formula

We'd emphasise the hotel and its décor are very English, not to say a little eccentric in the nicest possible way. Not a place for modernists, style-fascists or make-over enthusiasts. We point this out particularly for passing Californians (reading the hotel's only bad TripAdvisor entry) and perhaps other non-Brits, although a Swiss family staying during our recent visit were regular satisfied guests.

The dinners are the highlight of the stay, with consistently delicious soups (sweet corn with red pepper pesto, lettuce pea & mint, tomato & basil, mushroom, - all served with a selection of lovely warm rolls), excellent imaginative second (pre-main) courses, e.g. a salmon mousse, a filo pastry tart filled with Mediterranean vegetables topped with grilled goats cheese, warm salad of pigeon breast with beetroot. Main courses (choice of two each evening – one meat, one fish) included sirloin steak with whisky sauce, salmon with dill sauce, duck breast, lemon sole, chicken breast with tarragon sauce – all served with varied and beautifully cooked and presented vegetables. Everything was prepared with loving care and attention; even the baby broad beans were peeled. The emphasis with all produce is top quality ingredients, locally sourced wherever possible.

The proprietor was apparently a pastry chef in a previous existence and you just have to make room for the desserts – incredibly light chocolate tart, raspberry & almond cake with clotted cream, poached pineapple with ginger ice cream, to name but a few of the most memorable. Not to mention the home-made scones (with local jam and clotted cream) that are just one of the delights on offer with the complimentary afternoon tea.

There's a modest, reasonably priced wine list with a fair round-the-world selection. A South African (SA) chardonnay, (Clüwer of Elgin, SA), was surprisingly and especially good, as was a dessert wine by the same winery.

We couldn't get in at our usual hotels in Lynton and Lynmouth so we tried the Heddons Gate Hotel. It's a bit out-in-the-wilds for us, but we can see why people like it so much. There is plenty of attention to detail and it has the personal touch. Our room was large and absolutely spotless. with a big comfy bed. Huge bathroom too!
It's well up to it's 2-star Hotel rating and we enjoyed our two-night stay (we did miss having our newspapers in the morning though!). We decided to dine on Saturday.
Evening meal was served at 7.30pm...........I don't think there's a choice of times. Despite some staffing problems the owners coped well, and the food (locally sourced) is really excellent. All-in-all, a nice place, ideal for outdoor enthusiasts who like to come home to some comfortable surroundings

On the basis of the praise that 10 out of 10 reviewers gave this place, we decided to give this hotel a try. We were disappointed, overall. The booking was ok, with some mistakes. I asked about the fact that it only had 2 stars, and should not have taken the answer seriously, it really is a two star, or less. It is far too expensive for a old country place with atrocious outdated decor.

What we really liked is that is was very quiet there, and the access to hiking in the area.

The hotel is very hard to find, even with a GPS. So we arrived quite late. We were tired and had no choice but to stay. The beds were old and soft and no quality linens. The room smelled of damp. We asked for a board to be placed under the mattresses but still we had to sleep in twin beds because the "king" bed we had asked for was not even big enough by US standards to be a queen size-and it was saggy at that.

The decor is so bad it is almost funny. Where did they get those plastic calla lily lamps? Really, it was bad but maybe it is a matter of taste. Some basic effort should be made to update or de-clutter it. However, it was basically clean and quiet so we made the best of it. We stayed the two nights that we had paid for but left for the day and ate elsewhere. My spouse said the breakfast was fine. There was only one other couple staying there.

The owners were nice but I thought a bit disingenuous. The tariff was posted at 67 pounds for their best room. But it turns out that is per person. This is an odd way to book a room - this is not a cruise ship, but a hotel which is usually booked by the room. So, the bill was double what I thought it would be. I was told it would be 134.00 pounds and assumed that was the total, not per night. At those rates, it is far too expensive and not a good value at all.