About the Editor
“The Travel Editor of The Telegraph has asked me to stay in a few hotels and write reviews about them,” Paddy told me, “and take you!” I spent the next eighteen years as ‘my husband’, never named, driver, bag carrier and shower tester. When we had travelled enough motorway miles, slept in enough hotel beds and eaten in enough restaurants, Paddy and I decided that a website using journalists’ hotel reviews to describe the hotels would be popular and useful. I am delighted you are a reader and hope that you might become a contributor by writing to us.Fingals
Dittisham, Dartmouth, Devon, Southwest
27 April 1991
Paddy Burt
A hotel where time is not of the essence.
Fingals Hotel Devon
Upstairs in the folly
New 'boutique' look bedroom
Outside the games room
The grass tennis court
Interior of the self-catering barn
The 'Ponderer' in the garden
The folly
One day in April 2011 was the twentieth anniversary of the Room Service column Paddy wrote as a result of staying at Fingals.
Another was the thirtieth anniversary of the day Richard Johnston fell in love with the place.
Has it changed? Read Paddy's original review and then "And now..."
Another was the thirtieth anniversary of the day Richard Johnston fell in love with the place.
Has it changed? Read Paddy's original review and then "And now..."
News and Special Offers Click here
This is what Paddy wrote in 1991.
If you want to, say, stand on your head in the dining room or slide down the banisters at Fingals Hotel, near Dittisham, South Devon, no-one is likely to stop you and stare. Doing your own thing, however dotty, is what the hotel is all about.
‘Hotel’, however, is too strong a word. The brochure issues subtle hints to this effect: “Fingals is a special place”, “not straightforward”, “an abundance of personality”, “an experience” – though in my experience anything described as an experience should be avoided at all costs.
Fingals sits tranquilly among fields, winding lanes and the nearby River Dart. The new chef, Dave, an amiable Oz, speaks in tones of awe: “You step outside at night and it’s utterly dark and silent. All you hear is the occasional sheep.”
One’s experience of the Fingals experience is immediate – getting in is not as easy as it sounds because the front door isn’t the front door at all. Entrance is via French doors at the side, two sets of them with just a narrow space between. Negotiating bags and baggage requires slimness, a touch of ingenuity, not to mention nerve; are we really coming in the right way?
Yes. All’s well. Here’s a small, cheerful bar with stools and a settle and a smiling Antipodean called Maree. “What’s your names?” she asks in a friendly fashion; she means first names, of course.
I had a particular reason for wanting to visit Fingals, having often passed a restaurant of the same name in London’s Fulham Road with enticing glimpses of a verdant conservatory inside. I never did get to eat there, and now it is no more, though the Devon experience is – same owner, same style.
There’s a rather charming indifference to time here. It’s impossible not to notice the sign that says ‘Good Morning’ (it’s 6.30pm), the menu that’s dated March 12 (it’s April 12) while upstairs in the bedroom the clock is 40 minutes slow.
Then, when booking by phone, I’d been asked what time we’d like dinner. “Nine o’clock?” inquires the Antipodean voice. What a joke. They are just pretending to be like other hotels – you cannot be in Fingals five minutes before you realise dinner will be served when it’s ready.
What’s more, we will be dining en famille. This particular evening there are just two guests beside ourselves, the rest of the crowd being made up of owner Richard Johnston’s family and friends, including several small children. The dining room ( as opposed to the panelled restaurant) is laid for nine at one long table. “Richard can be quite mischievous,” explains his girlfriend later. “He tends not to tell people they’ll be eating together. Of course if anyone wants to eat privately, they only have to say.”
Pony-tailed chef, Dave once worked in the galley of a deep-sea fishing boat on the Barrier Reef. He knows his stuff. Dinner is excellent and, better still,light; turbot soup, Dover sole garnished with oriental vegetables, an imaginative cheeseboard, a choice of light puddings. We order our own red wine and get on famously with our neighbours.
We do not get on famously with the tiny bedroom. The bed takes up most of the space, and there’s only one bedside light. But the rest of the house is such fun – pictures everywhere, snooker room, library, TV room and outside, a stream, summer house and pool. What more could anyone want? Pedantic souls might disagree.
If you would like to know more about Fingals and its charismatic owners, click the 'read more' button
If you want to, say, stand on your head in the dining room or slide down the banisters at Fingals Hotel, near Dittisham, South Devon, no-one is likely to stop you and stare. Doing your own thing, however dotty, is what the hotel is all about.
‘Hotel’, however, is too strong a word. The brochure issues subtle hints to this effect: “Fingals is a special place”, “not straightforward”, “an abundance of personality”, “an experience” – though in my experience anything described as an experience should be avoided at all costs.
Fingals sits tranquilly among fields, winding lanes and the nearby River Dart. The new chef, Dave, an amiable Oz, speaks in tones of awe: “You step outside at night and it’s utterly dark and silent. All you hear is the occasional sheep.”
One’s experience of the Fingals experience is immediate – getting in is not as easy as it sounds because the front door isn’t the front door at all. Entrance is via French doors at the side, two sets of them with just a narrow space between. Negotiating bags and baggage requires slimness, a touch of ingenuity, not to mention nerve; are we really coming in the right way?
Yes. All’s well. Here’s a small, cheerful bar with stools and a settle and a smiling Antipodean called Maree. “What’s your names?” she asks in a friendly fashion; she means first names, of course.
I had a particular reason for wanting to visit Fingals, having often passed a restaurant of the same name in London’s Fulham Road with enticing glimpses of a verdant conservatory inside. I never did get to eat there, and now it is no more, though the Devon experience is – same owner, same style.
There’s a rather charming indifference to time here. It’s impossible not to notice the sign that says ‘Good Morning’ (it’s 6.30pm), the menu that’s dated March 12 (it’s April 12) while upstairs in the bedroom the clock is 40 minutes slow.
Then, when booking by phone, I’d been asked what time we’d like dinner. “Nine o’clock?” inquires the Antipodean voice. What a joke. They are just pretending to be like other hotels – you cannot be in Fingals five minutes before you realise dinner will be served when it’s ready.
What’s more, we will be dining en famille. This particular evening there are just two guests beside ourselves, the rest of the crowd being made up of owner Richard Johnston’s family and friends, including several small children. The dining room ( as opposed to the panelled restaurant) is laid for nine at one long table. “Richard can be quite mischievous,” explains his girlfriend later. “He tends not to tell people they’ll be eating together. Of course if anyone wants to eat privately, they only have to say.”
Pony-tailed chef, Dave once worked in the galley of a deep-sea fishing boat on the Barrier Reef. He knows his stuff. Dinner is excellent and, better still,light; turbot soup, Dover sole garnished with oriental vegetables, an imaginative cheeseboard, a choice of light puddings. We order our own red wine and get on famously with our neighbours.
We do not get on famously with the tiny bedroom. The bed takes up most of the space, and there’s only one bedside light. But the rest of the house is such fun – pictures everywhere, snooker room, library, TV room and outside, a stream, summer house and pool. What more could anyone want? Pedantic souls might disagree.
If you would like to know more about Fingals and its charismatic owners, click the 'read more' button
read more
Here you can read the whole story about how and why Fingals came into existence.
In 1981 Coombe Manor was bought by Richard and developed gradually to what it is today. It was opened as Fingals Hotel in 1982 with six bedrooms in the main house. The extension and swimming pool were added in 1988 and the Folly was built in 1994 and we are still building!
Richard chanced upon the 17thC Devon farmhouse that forms the core of the hotel nearly 30 years ago. “I was on holiday in Devon, just wandering around, when I discovered the crumbling old farmhouse crying out for attention” he says, “I had a restaurant in the Fulham Road at the time, but as I am hooked on the outdoor lifestyle - sailing, windsurfing and mountain biking - I was looking for an excuse to get out of the city.” The other farm buildings had just been bought by the Rileys, who had started converting the milking parlour, the barns and the old farm stables into an art gallery (Coombe Farm Studios) offering weekly painting courses. Richard was so impressed by their casually ambitious plans that the idea of converting the old residential part of the farm into an hotel didn’t seem quite so daunting. The Rileys built their dream on one side of the courtyard and Richard built his on the other side. Richard set to with a group of friends stripping out the ugly 1950s interior of the building, restoring the old panelling back to natural wood and reverting to the original 17th and 18th C interior. By the end of 1981, Richard was running a restaurant downstairs and had completed one bedroom upstairs. By the end of the following year, he had five bedrooms in the old farmhouse. Andras Kaldor, a Hungarian painter/architect friend of Richard’s, helped him with the next stage in 1990 - an extension with new bedrooms, an upstairs Carpenter Oak Barn and enclosing and roofing the swimming pool.
This is what they say about themselves:-
"Eccentric, quirky, unique, different - Fingals is all of these and much, much more! A handsome Grade 2 listed Devon farmhouse (mentioned in the Domesday Book) Fingals has been family owned and run by Richard Johnston for the past 30 years. Richard has lovingly transformed it into a luxurious country house hotel nestling in a tranquil valley set back from the river Dart. As soon as you step through the front door you experience the warmth, relaxation and comfort which seems to hug you as you arrive! It is a home away from home.
Describing Fingals is difficult, but we'll try... it's fun, relaxed, eccentric, charming, beautiful, full of art and an overflowing library, full of friendly people, and it is quite unique. The hotel offers a choice of accommodation in 11 plush ‘boutique style’ en-suite rooms. The Stream Room is an entirely new 'eco' building on the Barbary Water, overlooking a little natural woodland wilderness where guests can sleep under velvety skies full of stars (there is no light pollution) and wake to the sound of the babbling stream and quacking wild ducks. The beautiful folly over the stream has been converted into accommodation for two.
There is an indoor swimming pool, a sauna, a jacuzzi & a gym, a grass tennis court, a bar where conviviality rules, roaring log fires in winter, newspapers and magazines all around - and a flock of white doves. Of course that's not to forget the evening meal created from local organic produce, fish off the morning's delivery, local meat and organic vegetables. Eating at the long table with people you’ve never met before isn't everyone's choice (and it is optional), but this gathering of guests, sociability and lively conversation, often hosted by the owner Richard, a gregarious eccentric, and his delightful wife Sheila, is not to be missed.? Anyone willing to allow themselves to enter into the expansive, generous and caring philosophy of Richard and Sheila will come away with enthusiastic memories. Fingals is simply a very special place to stay - it is a true indulgence. Try it!"
In 1981 Coombe Manor was bought by Richard and developed gradually to what it is today. It was opened as Fingals Hotel in 1982 with six bedrooms in the main house. The extension and swimming pool were added in 1988 and the Folly was built in 1994 and we are still building!
Richard chanced upon the 17thC Devon farmhouse that forms the core of the hotel nearly 30 years ago. “I was on holiday in Devon, just wandering around, when I discovered the crumbling old farmhouse crying out for attention” he says, “I had a restaurant in the Fulham Road at the time, but as I am hooked on the outdoor lifestyle - sailing, windsurfing and mountain biking - I was looking for an excuse to get out of the city.” The other farm buildings had just been bought by the Rileys, who had started converting the milking parlour, the barns and the old farm stables into an art gallery (Coombe Farm Studios) offering weekly painting courses. Richard was so impressed by their casually ambitious plans that the idea of converting the old residential part of the farm into an hotel didn’t seem quite so daunting. The Rileys built their dream on one side of the courtyard and Richard built his on the other side. Richard set to with a group of friends stripping out the ugly 1950s interior of the building, restoring the old panelling back to natural wood and reverting to the original 17th and 18th C interior. By the end of 1981, Richard was running a restaurant downstairs and had completed one bedroom upstairs. By the end of the following year, he had five bedrooms in the old farmhouse. Andras Kaldor, a Hungarian painter/architect friend of Richard’s, helped him with the next stage in 1990 - an extension with new bedrooms, an upstairs Carpenter Oak Barn and enclosing and roofing the swimming pool.
This is what they say about themselves:-
"Eccentric, quirky, unique, different - Fingals is all of these and much, much more! A handsome Grade 2 listed Devon farmhouse (mentioned in the Domesday Book) Fingals has been family owned and run by Richard Johnston for the past 30 years. Richard has lovingly transformed it into a luxurious country house hotel nestling in a tranquil valley set back from the river Dart. As soon as you step through the front door you experience the warmth, relaxation and comfort which seems to hug you as you arrive! It is a home away from home.
Describing Fingals is difficult, but we'll try... it's fun, relaxed, eccentric, charming, beautiful, full of art and an overflowing library, full of friendly people, and it is quite unique. The hotel offers a choice of accommodation in 11 plush ‘boutique style’ en-suite rooms. The Stream Room is an entirely new 'eco' building on the Barbary Water, overlooking a little natural woodland wilderness where guests can sleep under velvety skies full of stars (there is no light pollution) and wake to the sound of the babbling stream and quacking wild ducks. The beautiful folly over the stream has been converted into accommodation for two.
There is an indoor swimming pool, a sauna, a jacuzzi & a gym, a grass tennis court, a bar where conviviality rules, roaring log fires in winter, newspapers and magazines all around - and a flock of white doves. Of course that's not to forget the evening meal created from local organic produce, fish off the morning's delivery, local meat and organic vegetables. Eating at the long table with people you’ve never met before isn't everyone's choice (and it is optional), but this gathering of guests, sociability and lively conversation, often hosted by the owner Richard, a gregarious eccentric, and his delightful wife Sheila, is not to be missed.? Anyone willing to allow themselves to enter into the expansive, generous and caring philosophy of Richard and Sheila will come away with enthusiastic memories. Fingals is simply a very special place to stay - it is a true indulgence. Try it!"
And now...
Fingals is described as 'a luxury country house hotel'. So how does that how that square with the Trade Descriptions Act? Aha! They've anticipated that by adding 'with a difference'. But has it been spoiled? No, we don't think so.
Only last year Sally Shalam stayed there and wrote about it in The Guardian: "Now I'm in a quandary. Fingals is like a much-loved teddy bear that is a bit bashed-up with age. Regulars clearly love its idiosyncrasy, but newcomers will be less forgiving. Cold rooms (it wasn't just me; another guest said she switched rooms for the same reason) are not OK. Hair-shirt mattress? Not in 2010. Overlooked windows with only curtains, ditto. And £30 for dinner is steep. You know what, though? I still fell in love with the place......" Read the whole article here.
This is how it has changed.
* The hotel now has 11 bedrooms, all with bathrooms. They have all been done up in the last five or so years. They are all have excellent Vi-Spring mattresses and there's quite a lot of Lewis and Wood wallpaper and furnishing fabric in the rooms and downstairs in the hotel.
* The latest addition is an ‘eco’ house. The Stream Room is a luxurious big bedroom, with a separate shower room and bathroom. A balcony overlooks the stream.
It has been built from sustainable timber with no nasty preservative chemicals. Natural hemp is used for insulation so that very little of the solar-generated heat is wasted..
* The Folly - a stream babbles past the beautiful Folly which Andras Kaldor, a Hungarian painter and architect has converted into a secluded room for two. There is a distinct Scandinavian feel about it - inspired slightly by Carl Larsson.
Upstairs you can relax on a day bed in a delightful living room with a wood-burning stove, and a balcony. Downstairs you can walk out of the bedroom onto a little private deck over a gurgling stream.
* Below the Stream Room there is a new gym/treatment room.
* The sauna has been rebuilt with a big glass window and the hot tub has been relocated over the stream for guests to relax and enjoy nature in the raw!
* The Pool is much the same but now full of luxuriant green foliage and brightly coloured flowers.
* The grass tennis court is immaculate - Wimbledon standard...!
* The gardens have matured and are stunning and we have lots of hidden places for people to sit quietly and relax ...
* A relatively new addition is The Orangerie. You now go through that to get to the new jacuzzi which overlooks the stream.
* The Games Room has been smartened up and now houses a pool table, a piano and table football and just outside the games room there is table tennis.
* The terrace by the pool has been redone and the terrace outside the main hotel has also been redone and we often have breakfast and dinner outside when it is warm enough.
* We love dogs at Fingals and would be delighted to be featured in your Listing of Dog-Friendly hotels. They adore our Green Lanes, the Coast Path, beautiful beaches (there are still some open to dogs in the summer holidays) and River Trips! Some of them even play tennis! Dogs are most welcome at £5 each (bring your own bed & breakfast!).
Only last year Sally Shalam stayed there and wrote about it in The Guardian: "Now I'm in a quandary. Fingals is like a much-loved teddy bear that is a bit bashed-up with age. Regulars clearly love its idiosyncrasy, but newcomers will be less forgiving. Cold rooms (it wasn't just me; another guest said she switched rooms for the same reason) are not OK. Hair-shirt mattress? Not in 2010. Overlooked windows with only curtains, ditto. And £30 for dinner is steep. You know what, though? I still fell in love with the place......" Read the whole article here.
This is how it has changed.
* The hotel now has 11 bedrooms, all with bathrooms. They have all been done up in the last five or so years. They are all have excellent Vi-Spring mattresses and there's quite a lot of Lewis and Wood wallpaper and furnishing fabric in the rooms and downstairs in the hotel.
* The latest addition is an ‘eco’ house. The Stream Room is a luxurious big bedroom, with a separate shower room and bathroom. A balcony overlooks the stream.
It has been built from sustainable timber with no nasty preservative chemicals. Natural hemp is used for insulation so that very little of the solar-generated heat is wasted..
* The Folly - a stream babbles past the beautiful Folly which Andras Kaldor, a Hungarian painter and architect has converted into a secluded room for two. There is a distinct Scandinavian feel about it - inspired slightly by Carl Larsson.
Upstairs you can relax on a day bed in a delightful living room with a wood-burning stove, and a balcony. Downstairs you can walk out of the bedroom onto a little private deck over a gurgling stream.
* Below the Stream Room there is a new gym/treatment room.
* The sauna has been rebuilt with a big glass window and the hot tub has been relocated over the stream for guests to relax and enjoy nature in the raw!
* The Pool is much the same but now full of luxuriant green foliage and brightly coloured flowers.
* The grass tennis court is immaculate - Wimbledon standard...!
* The gardens have matured and are stunning and we have lots of hidden places for people to sit quietly and relax ...
* A relatively new addition is The Orangerie. You now go through that to get to the new jacuzzi which overlooks the stream.
* The Games Room has been smartened up and now houses a pool table, a piano and table football and just outside the games room there is table tennis.
* The terrace by the pool has been redone and the terrace outside the main hotel has also been redone and we often have breakfast and dinner outside when it is warm enough.
* We love dogs at Fingals and would be delighted to be featured in your Listing of Dog-Friendly hotels. They adore our Green Lanes, the Coast Path, beautiful beaches (there are still some open to dogs in the summer holidays) and River Trips! Some of them even play tennis! Dogs are most welcome at £5 each (bring your own bed & breakfast!).
Editor's Choice
White Swan
Paddy and her husband stayed at this pub in 1996. So you might think that the review which appears below is a bit out...
Paddy and her husband stayed at this pub in 1996. So you might think that the review which appears below is a bit out...