'High on the cliff top’ above Chesil Beach, affording ‘sensational views of sunrises, sunsets, and dolphins hunting in Lyme Bay’, this hip hotel is 'a very special place', writes a trusted reader. A Victorian villa and once-drab B&B, it was transformed by Mary-Lou Sturridge and Tony Mackintosh (who created London's Groucho Club), mixing renovated old furniture, marine salvage and seascapes. Antique shops yielded everything from teapots to toast racks. The library has pieces from Mary-Lou’s mum’s house, a dashing portrait of her grandfather in military attire. ‘The airy rooms have very good beds.’ All have a radio, no TV, good books, a shower or claw-foot bath, perhaps dual-aspect windows, a vast bathroom with twin basins. ‘Locals and visitors alike enjoy the cocktail happy hour and interesting bar snacks.’ In the restaurant, opening onto the terrace, ‘main dishes are creative and substantial’ – maybe ‘spankingly fresh’ monkfish, saffron fennel and clams. For another dependable reader, the portions were daunting, including a ‘wonderful but almost overwhelming soufflé followed by giant fish’. ‘We slept with the sound of the sea in our ears, and didn't want to leave.’ (Tessa Stuart, John Barnes)