View from the Room: Plantation House, Ivybridge, Devon
I usually seek out a rural-ish hotel, in a village or small town with plenty to see within walking distance. This however is another, like the Brace of Pheasants in Dorset that stands alone. There is a pub or two further in the village and some sort of store, none of which I saw.
Having just had the Scandi break at Christmas, rural seemed like a good idea for a weekend mid-way between two overseas adventures. We were swayed by the tiny Plantation Hotel and its promised luxury. After all, a hotel with White Company toiletries has to deliver comfort - although I’m slightly put off by the name.
The room oozed boutique country with Georgian windows framed by trees and two small armchairs placed looking out.
On the lux side, we are promised underfloor heating in the bathroom, which is definitely needed. It wasn’t on though.
I expected everything to be comfortable as soon as we walked in. Maybe it’s a sign of the times so no energy is wasted. After all, the quality service was evident as soon as we walked in and we discovered they had booked us a single occupancy room. When we walked upstairs, we find the room to be decent sized and before we had a chance to open the wardrobe, someone was up re-laying the coffee table for two and bringing in the extra towels and robes. No slippers but the bedroom part is carpeted and I remembered to bring some. Sadly none of these items are as super luxurious as the White Company but are good.
Our confirmation says 2 so we are surprised to see a bill for a double occupancy surcharge at the end of our stay. We decided to pay and argue later and got it back from Hotels.com immediately.
It took effort to work out how to warm up the bathroom from its frozen state. Another thing you never see these days is a little card with instructions on how everything works. We found the switches for the towel rail and heating down at the skirting board level. The radiator in the room only seemed to come on in the evening so we didn’t have control of that but managed to keep warm in early February, mainly by spending most of our days out.
So once everything is working, the bathroom has everything; a deep long bathtub with taps in the middle, rather than 1 so you have to turn them both just right for a warm bath. Curiously there is no overflow which strikes me as a bit dangerous! Overhead there’s an excellent detachable shower overhead (unused except to rinse the bath), a heated towel rail, a decent round sink with space around and underneath for a small number of toiletries. The tap was quite far for me to reach but other rooms may differ.
The room has 2 bath towels, 2 hand towels, 2 face towels and a much-needed bath mat for the yet-to-be-warmed floor.
The two robes hang here too along with two glasses.
Vanities include cotton buds, cotton wool, shower cap, and the little White Company toiletries, shower gels, and conditioner. The shampoo, body lotion and liquid soap are attached to the wall, along with another shower gel.
The room itself has a too small for us double bed (maybe this was a single occupancy room) although plenty of room for 2 side tables with big lamps, a double wardrobe with 2 drawers, desk and chair, a large low table with the TV and another big lamp and room for everything else we need to house. The radiator was behind this so I kept an eye on the cables dangling perilously close to it.
Plus there’s the coffee table, two rattan chairs next to a window seat, and a tray table for the cafetiere and a jar of lovely ground coffee, kettle and instant teas, coffees and hot chocolate.
There are plenty of hangers in the wardrobe, a hair dryer, a hot water bottle and a suitcase stand - all unused. I tend to take my clothes on hangers if I travel by car. Convenient sockets, lights and mirrors although I don’t recall a USB.
There is a welcome basket of fruit (which I detest so have to hide immediately) but the biscuits were devoured with the first coffee before we went out. There was a nice touch of slices of fruit cake served with fresh cream which I’d never seen matched up before. Obviously I didn’t eat the cake but used the cream for the initial coffee. We took full advantage of the 2 large still and sparkling water bottles. Drinking water should be the norm in hotels, or aat least an accessible tap available 24/7.
Breakfast is served in the room you will pass going in from the car park. As this is a small place, you have to decide what you want pretty much before you have dinner the evening before and there’s a good choice.
Dinner is of the fine-dining variety and is a set 3-course menu. I love the dinners we’ve had at the Coaching Inns - a little chain I compare every small hotel with now, and nothing beats them. The dinner at The Plantation Hotel restaurant is served in their super comfy tiny 8-table restaurant just off the lounge area. It’s a little rich and over-priced and my memory here is of the chap sitting across the way who was the type who only tucked his napkin into his shirt collar. He did the same at both breakfasts, sitting opposite his (younger?) blonde companion and that’s about as stereotypical a country bloke as you can get.
The food was heavy and plentiful so we had to have a walk afterwards (plus it was still early) although there’s only so far you can go in the dark little village before you wonder if you have walked into someone’s front garden.
For true lux, I’d expect the room to be at a comfortable temperature when we walked in and to have full control but we managed. I’m sure we could have asked for a heater if we spent more time in the room - mostly I used the blanket and robe as an extra layer. We found the bed small for both of us and had slightly uncomfortable nights’ sleep but otherwise the room was comfortable.
There is a missed opportunity in having a full partnership with the White Company. It could have all their furniture, but short of that, all the linens, towels, robes, slippers and accessories. This could be sold as an add-on discounted package sent directly to your home afterwards. What a great memory that would evoke.
I love the welcoming entrance from the car park and the books in the entrance hallway. Staff were all excellent, friendly and accommodating.
Apart from that and the communication mishap of charging us extra overall, it was a good winter’s stay in a wonderfully peaceful and pretty part of the world.
February 2023
