We had a lovely two night stay at Endsleigh. We took the train from Paddington to Plymouth and picked up a rental car there. The hotel now has 19 rooms. Most rooms are in the main house. There are 3 suites in the stables, immediately across the courtyard/car park from the main entrance. And the final one is the Gatekeepers Lodge, the first building you see as you turn in on the drive to the property. It is roughly a mile from the hotel. We toured the lodge and thought it would be great for people with children or dogs. However, the main hotel had so many comfortable public rooms, it might be frustrating to be isolated from it.
We booked Suite 1. It is the only room on the ground floor of the hotel. It is spacious, with a large bedroom, a sitting room, and a spacious bathroom. Despite a plethora of seating, I didn't find any of it especially comfortable. Better use could have been made of the space, particularly in the sitting room. I was happy to have a walk in shower as well as a tub. With such a large bathroom, it's a shame no consideration was given to making the toilet area more private. We had a door to the outside and a beautiful view over one of the floral areas.
There is an impressive array of comfortable sitting rooms from small to spacious. There are equally as many diverse areas to sit outside. We loved to take breakfast and dinner outside. There is a small area that has an overhang and is shielded from rain and wind. One of those tables became ours. Food was excellent. We didn't take afternoon tea, though it looked exceptional.
Service was remarkable, attentive, low key, constant. For example, when we were shown to the room, a couple windows were marked by the death of an insect. The porter immediately got a ladder and a bucket of water and went to work. He cleaned both inside and outside of the multipaned windows in our two rooms. In the lounge, staff was always aware of us in a very pleasant way, asking if we needed beverages, the door closed when it got cool, a fire started. We chatted with the GM a couple times. He said that space is always kept for residents for tea and dinner. They accept bookings from 12 to 16 non residents for tea. If it is a beautiful day, they will take more because they have extensive outside seating. My husband chatted with the father of the bride who had just hosted a pre wedding dinner. He said that in the last three years, the property has taken a strong turn for the better and is their favorite place to come. The current GM has been there a little over 2 years. I've no idea if there is a correlation.
The pictures are:
House from the garden side
Corner of stables which now houses 3 suites
Garden along length of croquet field
View from one side of our suite