Porth Tocyn
Abersoch, Gwynedd
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Just like Abersoch beach below, Porth Tocyn is an enduring family affair (and a Guide stalwart for more than six decades). The next generation, Henry Fletcher-Brewer and wife Kelly, understand hospitality as acutely as the rest of the clan, and are gradually chucking out the chintz as this much-loved hotel's 76th season shapes up to look tastefully contemporary. Drinks are taken amid gleaming dark wood and fresh soft furnishings, with stormy landscapes telling of rough seas; the dining room is simple and expansive, looking over well-established coastal gardens. A country house spirit pervades the menu – think smoked salmon millefeuille layered with cream cheese, filo and red pepper, followed by venison Wellington with creamed cabbage and glazed baby veg. Puddings such as espresso mousse with burnt shortbread, custard jelly and doughnut ice cream, or roast apricot with a vanilla madeleine, coconut sorbet and pistachio caramel, are a shade more dashing. The kitchen works hard to please (the souvenirs on sale are jars of homemade marmalade) and the Porth Tocyn package remains correspondingly easy to like.
