A rant, a hotel in the city centre and a lesson on where not to stay

What constitutes good value for a stay in an 18th century hotel in a historic city in the south west?

Now this is not to be a rant by tired and grumpy of Tiverton that I have already done when the booking company requested feedback on the said hotel.

No this is more a reflection on another conversion of a private residence into a hotel.

Yesterday I was down in a peaceful Cornish valley with an old farm cottage which by degree over the last half century has been converted into a fine place to stay.

And the following day we were in a city centre hotel.

We had booked both places on line as we moved around Cornwall and so after a long journey north we were hoping for a place which matched the inn in the valley.

Now this hotel had all plenty going for it.

It was in a parade of stylish period houses close to many of the tourist attractions with some pretty stunning views.

Sadly the 18th century property had been converted to maximise the number of visitors that could be packed in and the rooms we slept in were woefully run down.

The paint around the doors was chipped, the cord to the once elegant sash window was broken while the seat of an arm chair in the first room we looked at was torn and the varnish on the wooden sill below the mirror was peeling.

To be fair the room was clean and the beds comfortable, the plasma TV big, and the staff did their best to make our stay a happy one, but the carpet bubbled in places and the shower was a little tired looking.

What saddened me was that there appeared to be an expectation that because we were in the heart of the city the state of the room was acceptable.

Now I am a realist and fully understand market forces, and the  argument of supply and demand but cannot reconcile a bubbly carpet, chipped paintwork and broken sash cord in what from the outside looked smart inviting and elegant.

All of which makes me reflect that this once fine period building had been badly converted, was shabbily maintained and sadly did not do justice to what it had once been.

Was I angry?  Yes.  Should we have found somewhere else?  Perhaps.

But we arrived late into the city and I doubt that we would have found any where else at that time and would have still had to pay something for the room.

As it was the cost was as much as that other hotel in the peaceful Cornish valley which was immaculate.

So I am cross because I don't think it was what we thought we were getting, angry that such a fine old building was not what it had once been, and a little concerned that someone somewhere thought that the rooms were OK to be marketed.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

A lesson in conservation ......the Inn in the Cornish valley

We had been travelling around the southernmost bits of Cornwall.

Wide sandy beaches, rough jagged cliffs and the expanse of the sea

It was all planned so that we did the journey in short hops making the most of the countryside but never overstretching ourselves with more than a few hours in the car.

Often the route took us down small country lanes so narrow that in places it was impossible to see how two vehicles could pass each other.

The tall hedges and overhanging trees added to the magic of these lanes, but then with little warning we would be out in the open with the coast ahead of us and those stunning views of wide sandy beaches, rough grey jagged cliffs and the expanse of the sea.

The plans had been simple, book a couple of Travel Lodges on the way down and then treat ourselves to two up market country hotels.

Travel Lodges are by and large all the same, cheap cheerful and often next to an industrial site, which proved to be the case with our two.

But country hotels are different; usually they have character and history and can be quite enchanting.

So it was with the first we stayed at.
Trengilly Wartha Inn is set in a peaceful valley in the heart of the countryside close to the Helford River.*

It is a rambling old property with at its core an 18th century cottage which from the late 1940s had been added to by a series of owners.

The peaceful valley in the heart of the countryside close to the River Helford

Now I can be practical but I doubt that I would have been able to take the original small building and with a leap of faith think about transforming it into a paying concern.

The 18th century cottage had consisted of three rooms with a ladder giving access to the upstairs, and a lavatory of sorts in the barn where the animals were kept.

The early modernisation and additions were carried out with the help of German prisoners of war and each successive owner added and adapted the place.

The three fields which once provided a meagre living as a market garden are now a mix of open land, lake, and stream with wild flowers everywhere.

Trenggilly Wartha Inn

Not that this is in any way an outrageous advert for the place but  a reflection on how an old building can be adapted, change its use and ensure its survival.

As the current owners are the first to admit while some Inns have a rich and romantic past theirs did not even acquire the title Inn until recently.

But that makes it no less an interesting place and one which I rather think will prompt me to dig deep into its 19th century past, tracking its agricultural residents and placing them in the history of this bit of Cornwall.

And all of this as well as a very pleasant place to say with a most helpful and welcoming hosts which only leaves me to add that the translation of trengilly wartha  means settlement above the tree's.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* Trengilly Wartha Inn, www.trengilly.co.uk