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IMAGINE for a moment that you've just finished breakfast in a country house hotel of impeccable standards. Sunshine is spilling through the open windows; the breakfast room, its gentle ambience all-pervasive, tempts you to linger over a second pot of tea.
But you resist such blandishments. There are more urgent distractions on this lovely summer's morn. Through the windows the view over the hotel's hilltop terrace is dominated by a beckoning golf course whose hemline of dunes sweeps along a beach, stretching as far as the eye can see around the distant curve of a shimmering bay.
You step onto the terrace. The warm air, vibrant with the scent of flowers and with a hint of the sea, engulfs you in its richness. It is a perfect day and the golf course awaits. God's in His Heaven, you’ll think, and all's well with the world.
North Carolina perhaps, or California, or even the Caribbean? Is it the Cote d'Azur, or the Cote Basque, near Biarritz? The scene would not be out of place at any of these, but in fact it is to be found in South Wales; to be precise, at Tenby.
Wales is famous for its mystical mountains and secret valleys but its coastline is equally magical, an endless necklace of coves and deserted beaches given rich lustre by the occasional emerald of a links.
It's a grand alternative for a golfing holiday. The Principality is redolent of a more gentle age, where traditions and standards are valued beyond mere lip service. The pace of life is generally unhurried, the natives are friendly and, to enhance the illusion of exotic places, all road signs are in two languages! Golf on a succession of superb links is inexpensive, the welcome effusive, the hotels, well... see above.
In this case it was the sumptuous Penally Abbey Hotel set in the grounds of an ancient monastery whose gaunt remains overlook the terraced gardens.
In truth it’s hardly a hotel in the accepted sense. The cunning plan, devised by the English owners, is for guests to feel part of the family in a country house, at once elegant but totally informal. Their plot succeeds admirably. The staff, friendly but not intrusively so, appear to have been chosen as much for their personality as their expertise. They’re a happy bunch, too, and most are long-serving, a sign of good management. The hosts are Steve and Elleen Warren, who have been in situ for 22 years. They say they’re settling in nicely!
There are only 17 guest rooms so the public rooms are never crowded and pre-dinner cocktail time has the ambience of a family re-union. Breakfast merits a letter home but a four course dinner is a celebration of the culinary arts, enhanced by good wine, conversation and laughter.
Exemplary and innovative are suitable adjectives for the cuisine. The menu changes daily and features fresh local produce, from cheese to lamb, beef and fish. Elleen, the hostess, is also le chef and if M. Michelin cares to navigate his way to far-flung Tenby he would be mightily impressed. Yes, it’s that good…and it may be the most romantic dining room in a long day’s drive.
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