Cool place of the week: Hotel Endsleigh, Devon

Quite literally situated on the border between Devon and Cornwall in the glorious Tamar Valley, this fairy-tale hotel is the country cousin of the excellent waterside Tresanton in Cornwall, both of which are owned by the renowned designer and hotelier, Olga Polizzi.

Housed in a nineteenth-century hunting lodge that was the rural retreat of the Duke of Bedford, the grounds were designed 200 years ago by Sir Humphrey Repton, and cover 100 acres of formal gardens, picture-perfect streams, woodlands, follies and grottoes.

It is, as gardener Alan Titchmarsh described it, ‘a hotel built in paradise’.

Despite having restored the house from a virtual ruin, Polizzi has done very little to change its structure – retaining the original fireplaces, doors, windows and shutters wherever possible – and the hotel has the feel has of the country residence of your richest and most stylish aunt, with a decor that looks more evolved than designed.

The 18 rooms and suites are artfully and individually decorated, with a stylish mix of old and new pieces, wooden floors, painted wallpapers , original roll-top baths and book-lined shelves.

Touches of modern luxury include walk-in showers and big comfortable beds – and, in the family suites, separate sitting rooms and built-in bunk beds for little ones, plus their own TV in the wall.

Some of the rooms are dog-friendly and have particularly beautiful views over the gardens and grounds, and you’ll want to get out and explore the numerous footpaths that meander through the grounds.

The hotel is a lovely place to return to after a hard's day's yomping through the woods, with a cosy lounge and a restaurant that serves very good, well-priced and unpretentious food – just what you need after a day in the Great Outdoors.

In short, Endsleigh is exactly what it was always meant to be – a fabulous country bolthole, and just about close enough to London to make a weekend of it.

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