Review of Bovey Castle, by Angela Moore

Bovey Castle is set in a particularly lovely corner of Devon, on the north-western edge of Dartmoor National Park. Dartmoor is the largest and wildest area of open country in southwest England, all rolling heather-covered hills and deep forested gorges, crisscrossed by bustling peat-brown streams. In places, it's as desolate and Heathcliff-esque as the moors of Yorkshire. It is, though, much easier to get to - a four-hour drive from London, along the scenic A303 past Stonehenge, or via two motorways for the less poetically inclined.

Bovey itself is surrounded by prettier, gentler country: on a low-rising hill, with long views over the grounds and down a sweep of wooded valley. The house was built a century ago for the Viscount Hambledon, son of business magnate WH Smith; in its heyday in the twenties and thirties it was a grand country estate and then a railway hotel before starting a long, gradual decline.

In 2004, it was rescued by Peter de Savary, who runs a series of extremely exclusive and successful club-style luxury hotels around the world (including Skibo Castle in Scotland.) He built a new spa wing and invested in restoring the estate's traditional activities, grounds, gardens. (The gardens were so transformed that the gardeners discovered a long-overgrown rockery which they did not know existed.)

De Savary has attempted an air of fun, twenties glamour, which is sometimes successful. Sweep up to the main entrance, where a silver Roller and a collection of vintage cars are parked; a bellhop in plus fours will magic your car away and your luggage up to your room.

Indoors, afternoon tea is laid out in the ravishing Cathedral Room, with its vaulted oak-beamed ceiling and 30-foot fireplace. Huge windows open onto the utterly English view. A series of other beautifully furnished rooms provide lots of space where you can settle in for some peace and quiet.

Before dinner, the hotel opens its wine cellars to guests for tastings, and the sommelier will lead you through the evening's menu. Guests dress (though not terribly formally - jacket but no tie) for dinner, which comes courtesy of rising star chef James O'Connor. After dinner, a convivial crowd gathers in the Piano Bar, or around the billiards table.

Outdoors, as well as the traditional country house pursuits (from croquet to sporting clay shooting) there are plenty of more imaginative things to do. Take fly fishing lessons; accompany the falconer to hunt your own dinner with a Harris falcon. You can try your hand at bee-keeping, or at making sloe gin, or join in a cricket match against the local village team. The golf course is a big draw: an historic championship course, recently given a major facelift, it winds through the grounds and along the River Bovey - pretty to walk even if you don't play.

For rainy days, the Spa offers Elemis treatments and a few unusual therapies, such as reiki and crystal healing. There's also a good 25-foot pool and a home cinema, complete with home-made popcorn. Children are very well catered for, with a host of fun things to do, from trampolining to egg-collecting every morning; they also have their own games room in the Mews.

Of course, you could ignore all this sporting stuff completely. Choose a chair on the terrace, or in a peaceful spot near the river. Take a book and a gin and tonic. Sit back, watch the swifts darting about in a fading blue evening sky and soak up that wonderful view.

Bovey's 65 bedrooms are plushly elegant and tend to the chinzty. There are witty, jazzy twenties touches in the décor, like the period Vogue covers on the walls and the ritzy black-and-white bathrooms. Comfort levels are extremely high: thick-pile carpets, princess-and-pea mattresses and lots of space. Nice touches include home-made sloe gin at turn-down, potent enough to put any golfer to sleep.

If you can, take a room at the front of Bovey Castle - this is a view you will want to wake up to. The staterooms, originally occupied by the Hambledon family, are wonderful in the ir proportions; number 18, the Easdon Suite, has a private terrace and its own fireplace.

There is space for families in one or two-bedroomed suites; those seeking romantic seclusion can take Rose Cottage, the former gatehouse, whole. You could also look into staying in one of the newly built lodges: very smart self-catering places, which would suit those who want privacy.