Hotel Reviews

The Hotel Meudon, near Falmouth, is a whimsical retreat set amidst gardens that could be straight out of Alice in Wonderland. Overlooking the pristine Cornish coast, the tropical flora transports you into a storybook realm where leaves unfurl as wide as sails and trees shrink to the size of your imagination. Here, scale is a playful trickster: one moment you tower, the next, you’re as small as Alice after a sip from a mysterious bottle, always a wanderer in a fantastical, far-flung world.

Our welcome was personable and friendly, something the de Savary hotels do extremely well. After leaving the Bentley GTC in the free parking at the rear of the hotel, we were shown to the Rosemary Suite (all rooms are named after herbs they grow), a private bungalow at the bottom of the walled garden. The room was utterly delightful, an ivy-covered Victorian Garden Potting Shed, down a lovely path, just a stone’s throw from the spa.

As I pulled up at The Royal Duchy Hotel in the new Audi E-Tron GT Quattro, I was splendidly greeted by the concierge James who showed me to my free electric charging parking space and immediately made me feel at home. He has worked at The Duchy for just under 40 years and is an expert on the hotel and the area. In fact, Mark, the manager and James are genuinely good company and skilled at predicting a guest’s every wish.