The front door at Glazebrook may well be a rip in the space-time continuum. Outside, English decorum reigns; inside, a wonderland for your senses waits. You don’t really find a hotel, more a contemporary art installation that you get to live in for a day or two. It’s a reinvention of a 19th-century collector’s house and it overflows with pink flamingos, enormous chandeliers, ancient maps, a bust of the queen with a halo instead of a crown. There’s a dinosaur in the library, a tasting room for whisky and wine, a red-marbled bar with sofas and armchairs, then doors onto a terrace for afternoon tea. Rooms come fully loaded: vast beds, the loveliest linen, cool design, quirky art. You get iPads, smart TVs and minibars ‘on the house’. Black marble bathrooms are flawless, with walk-in showers, fluffy robes, perhaps a free-standing bath. Ambrosial food waits downstairs, maybe goats cheese mousse, rake of lamb, hake with shellfish butter, chocolate delice with popcorn. The A38 passes nearby, a distant hum when you’re outside, so don’t let that put you off visiting this exceptional hotel. Dartmoor waits.
We stayed in the White Rabbit Room and had the most incredible time in this unique and boutique gem. Perfectly situated on the edge of Dartmoor, and with easy transport links, it had surprises round every corner and had been really carefully thought out. Walking around the house and its gardens, we felt a unique combination of surprise and at ease - the staff were so attentive: I didn't even have to fill my glass once, before someone had seen to it. Pieter and his staff took so much pride in Glazebrook, making it a really special memory for us.