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England Hotel Reviews

Unsurpassed Extraordinariness at the Dart Marina Hotel

March 8, 2007 at 9:05 AM | 0 Comments

It seems there are more than just funky artist communities and sensible beaches in south-west England: Devon also boasts a fancy spa resort in the form of the Dart Marina Hotel. Recently refurbished (aren't they all), Dart Marina sells itself as being located on "one of the most spectacular estuaries in Europe", and since most people aren't sure what an estuary really is, who's gonna call them on this? With one of those over-adjectived websites, we always get a little bit sceptical that the food might be slightly less than "extraordinarily tasty" and the spa facilities not quite as "unsurpassed" as they claim.

And when we get hold of last weekend's Guardian review it turns out our scepticism may be on the money. While reviewer Rafael Behr is plenty pleased with the medical-like touches to the spa resort (they erase the guilt, apparently, by helping you believe that it's a necessity instead of a luxury), he suggests that the whole resort might be a bit on the bland side. He has two big gripes: the rooms have those terrible plug-in "lavender-copy" air fresheners, and the informal restaurant did something quite unwelcoming:

The soundtrack to dinner was a single CD programmed to repeat. There is no surer way of making guests feel they have outstayed their welcome than to force them to memorise the track list of your one Lounge Classics Vol VII album.

Fair point. Room rates (starting at $250 a night in March) do include breakfast and dinner, though, so at least your repeating-CD-nightmare doesn't feel like it comes at an extra cost.

[Photo: Daymo7]

Related Stories:
· Dart Marina Hotel reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Checking In: Dart Marina [Guardian UK]