Soar Mill Cove Hotel

The setting for the hotel is within half a mile of the South West Coastal Path at Soar Mill Cove and is absolutely stunning when the sun is out. It's still beautifully rugged looking when the sky is grey though. The hotel staff are very welcoming and hard working. The whole place was clean and the gardens around the site were beautiful and full of birds during our stay. The food was excellent and very reasonably priced. If you enjoy coastal scenery and some peace and quiet, this is definitely a hotel worth visiting. Thank you very much for making our stay so pleasant.

We loved the hotel… our room The Hideaway was first rate… everything .. the balcony… milk in fridge… fab towels. Perfect position with an outstanding view and great walks. We were blessed with good amazing weather which was perfect given the hotels position by the sea and glorious walks. We will be back!

Lovely quiet hotel well away from everything we just felt a few areas needed a bit of attention, the views are fabulous from the hotel, and there is plenty of walking if required, food was very good. The road down to the hotel is very narrow so be warned if you meet someone coming the other way.

Firstly to list the positives, location, views (once mist had gone), public areas of hotel especially the lounge and general decor of hotel. Quality of staff a bit of a mix, some excellent (especially breakfast folk) dinner much more mixed. Maybe a 3 star rating unfair, probably 3.5 more appropriate. What has brought the rating down was firstly we had 2 major issues associated with our stay raised with the management team (linked to booking error and noise in our room) - the other more mundane but important issues raised was the slapdash approach to beverage and food service, missing menus, missing cups, missing knives, missing serviettes etc. to summarise I think communication, prices, attention to detail is lacking with maybe some staff training thrown in. Thus hotel is way short as things stand of delivering their 4 star rating service and certainly not justifying their prices particularly accommodation. Bedroom well equipped and clean and comfortable however, no complaints at all. Two final issues which I acknowledge not directly the fault of the hotel, firstly the access road is overgrown, in part not even the width of a normal car, needs dealing with, makes driving out/back a real challenge. Secondly dogs are an issue. I like dogs but however choose not to live with them. Our final dinner I counted 6 dogs at different tables, one continuously yapped, one wandered round the restaurant un- tethered. When we came a few years ago customers with dogs were positioned at the back of the restaurant, not like this time where they were in the heart of the dining area. The hotel needs to consider how to accommodate people with dogs without impacting their other clients who choose not to have dinner in kennels or a dogs home, it’s just not pleasant and is not worthy of a 4 star establishment. For the above reasons I would advise readers to most certainly consider their hotel choices in the area, lots of positives about Soar Mill but as at least one other reviewer has said their are certain things that let the hotel down,

We are regular visitors to Salcombe and have fancied staying at the Soar Mill Cove Hotel for some time. All in all we were very disappointed. After a long hot, tiring car journey the lady on reception was not overly friendly. We hadn't booked a time for dinner, as we presumed as guests it would not be a problem, only to discover that all the popular slots had gone. Next she wanted us to book breakfast and again we could only book at 9 am. Feeling a little disgruntled by this time, I said I had no idea what time I wanted to eat breakfast and did not want to be held to a time on holiday. She would not budge and also insisted we booked for the second morning as well. The room was a little disappointing as well and could really do with some updating. There was also a pump like noise that woke us up early in the morning. Dinner was a disaster. The restaurant was busy and short staffed. The two ladies who served us were very pleasant, but not very professional. We shared a starter of smoked salmon which was adequate if a little mean. For main my husband had the pork belly which was dry and underwhelming and I had the fresh tuna option with couscous and a side of broccoli. When it arrived the kitchen had messed up the order and I think I may have got a gluten free version by mistake with no side of broccoli. The waitress was very apologetic and said she would replace it. This took a long time, by which time my husband had finished his meal. When the second plate arrived the tuna was raw and cold (I am a fan of pink in the middle tuna as well!) This was again sent back to the kitchen and the wait was so long, we gave up and left the restaurant tired, hungry and grumpy. Breakfast was ok the next morning and at no point did the staff ask us what time we had booked and everyone just appeared to walk in when they felt like it! The only thing the hotel really has in its favour is its position and the outstanding views. Sadly we will not be returning.

We had a wonderful two night stay with our dogs. The Jenny Wren suite was perfect as it has an archway letting onto an area with two armchairs looking out onto the beautiful view. The fridge and the dogs' food were then tucked away out of sight of the main bedroom. The bedroom was extremely spacious with masses of storage. We made use of all the facilities on offer (swimming pool, gym, sauna) and also booked massages. The evening meal was very good (the ox cheek in particular!) and breakfast was excellent. A great spread of fruit, cold meats, cereals & pastries as well as a Full English and other cooked options.... including sausages for the dogs! Every member of staff was helpful and courteous. They couldn't have done more to make our stay very memorable.