The best thing about this property, is it's location - in the middle of the Devon countryside bordering a large park and alongside a river.

Unfortunately, we arrived late in the day and had to leave early the next morning. I would have like to have explored the area around the hotel better.

The building itself was magnificent - an old stone country house, very evocative of England in the 19th century. Our room (No. 14) however was very small (see photos), with a tiny TV and no internet. The walls were also thin, and we could hear screaming children. The bathroom was small, but all fixtures were modern, and the shower was very powerful.

The common areas are large and DVD's and books are available in the sitting rooms/library.

We ate at the restaurant, as any other option would require a long-ish drive. The food was not exceptional - well presented, but tasteless with small portions. The breakfast buffet was good though.

The staff was very friendly and helpful.

My impression is that the hotel is most appropriate for older couples and families, although younger singles who are looking for a relaxing getaway in the country would probably enjoy it as well, especially in the summertime when the weather is warm and one could take best advantage of activities such as fishing, hiking and croquet.

There is no denying that the Hotel Endsleigh is beautiful and set in the most amazing landscape, that accepted I must say it wasn't quite what I I expected or hoped for in terms of all over experience and thought it might be useful to share why.

We booked from the Mr and Mrs Smith website and having tried a few of the hotels they include I didn't feel Endsleigh was in the same class in terms of finesse and do wonder if it would have made the cut if it weren't for the scenery. We went for a short stay and while we had a lovely time (and a lovely room) it just doesn't have that overall feeling of luxury that other top end hotels have.

The atmosphere in the hotel when we visited was very sedate and quite old fashioned, at times though I hate to say it it did almost feel like a ( albeit very beautiful) residential home for the elderly. This was particularly the case in the restaurant in the evening, service was very slow with no music and little noise at all and the food while fine was old fashioned and just not really up to scratch, suffice to say there was little evidence of the recent burst of gastronomy in England you see elsewhere!

There were lots of nice elements, high tea taken on the patio was fabulous with a breathtaking view, plenty of really nice walks and the gardens are just perfectly kept. Service was neither here nor there during our stay, it wasn't awful but it didn't add anything either. Overall I think it really depends on what you are expecting, at best its like being on a Jane Austen film set and at worst a bit like creeping around a museum.

In all seriousness, its a place I would love to take my Grandma for lunch to show her the beautiful surroundings but next time I'm looking for a weekend treat for myself I'll be trying elsewhere!

There is a lot to like here - the property and gardens, as outlined by others below, are superb. It is like a cut-price version of Villa Feltrinelli by Lake Garda, which is meant as a compliment - and if you like Endsleigh, you should certainly try Feltrinelli.

We had Room 1, the largest suite (£380). This comes with a big bedroom, a ludicrously big bathroom (2 sinks, separate shower, roll-top bath) and a slightly useless small sitting room which didn't even catch the sun. This room is also apart from the rest which may be helpful if you have noisy children.

For the first 2 nights, the atmosphere was a bit spartan. The staff didn't light the fires even though it was a little chilly (and, quite frankly, I'd light them 365 days purely for atmosphere). Dinner on Sat was busy, on Sun very quiet which felt a little odd. On the last night, though, it burst into life - 2 friends joined us for dinner, a small group of businessmen came in for a meal, and for once there was laughter and a buzz in the dining room, and the fires finally got lit in the lounges.

We really enjoyed our time here, and are hoping to go back next Spring to see some more of the attractions around Dartmoor that we couldn't catch this time.

We recently spent a weekend at the Endsleigh and I'm afraid to say were very disappointed. The house is magnificent and in a wonderful setting, but the service was really poor. At dinner on the Friday night the restaurant appeared completely dysfunctional. We waited 50 minutes for our first course (luckily the bread came after 40 mins to keep us going). After an hour and a quarter our mains arrived. The food was ok, but nothing special given the prices charged. Breakfast was pretty poor with no fruit left when we arrived and another long wait for some porridge. There were mutterings from staff about the 'slow' kitchen, but it seemed to me that the problem lies with employing extremely inexperienced and no doubt cheap staff and expecting them to cope without adequate guidance. With the prices charged, service should be top quality, but I'm afraid it fell well short on our visit.