Bovey Castle

What a great experience. Our whole marriage arrangements were conducted by the lovely Sophie T. Sophie made the day perfect for us. The timing was to perfection. The whole day could not have been better. The castle as a wedding venue could not be beaten. The food was superb and the staff looked after us. Sophie kept a discreet but watchful eye on the formal ceremony and even helped my partner into her wedding dress. Sophie T was without doubt the star of the day in the castle and went above and beyond our expectations.

Having not been on holiday for 2 years through illness, my husband and I decided that we would start with a short 4 night trip and treat ourselves to a spot of uxury on our stay. Bovey Castle seemed to offer the service and luxury we were looking for and it was expensive but we did not mind that if it lived uup to expectations. Unfortunately it did not. At a cost of £2576 for a state room, breakfast and a £50 each allowance for dinner, I was really disappointed. We were shown to our room but not "round it". The make up mirror in the bathroom was broken and it took reporting it 3 times before the maintenace man came and said it couldn't be fixed. The room had a 4 poster bed and the TV on the wall meant you could not see the screen without a post going through the middle of it. The fine dining restaurant was closed except for the last night which was a good evening. The other 3 nights was no better than your local pub but costing Bovey prices. The table was a small table with a "tin" top and covered in salt on the first night as it had not been cleaned. I went to reception before the last night to hck our spending and discovered we had been charged for food and drinks we had not had. On one night we seem to have consumed two three course meals and a pint of lager (my husband does not drink and I don't drink pints of lager). It took a long time to get sorted until eventualaly these items were taken off. Stress we did not need. Would we go again? Think you can guess that one!

As an extended family of 16 - 8 adults and 8 children - we highly recommend Bovey Castle for a family adventure. Traveling from the US, our goal was to have an English countryside experience prior to a few days in London. We hired a driver with a bus to travel from Heathrow. We spent considerable time planning with the Bovey Castle staff to choose and reserve our activities, plan our meals and rsever two lodges. Thank you to the wonderful staff that helped with all of this planning-Aimee and Amy (Resort Desk and Reception), Sally and Kim (Reservations) and Matt (Activities). The location, and castle are beautiful! Beautiful views and gardens! The children ages 12- 1 years old were enchanted with the castle and loved roaming around the grounds and castle with lots of surprises for them - playground, croquet, tennis, views and fancy staircases. The men enjoyed the golf course - narrow and challenging. The lodges were beyond our expectations -three floors, plenty of room, great kitchens. Everyone loved activities and would recommend the activities- I think we tried them all ! archery (thank you ?), Off roading, Dartmoor Tour, Bovey Rangers. All must be reserved in advance. Thank you Matt for working with us -There was quite a bit of planning and for creating a special golf event (thank you ?) when we experienced one scheduling snafu. We recommend printing a schedule and going through this with Bovey at the start of your visit. The daily open events with chickens, and ferrets in the Kitchen Garden captivated us all. The falconry show was entertaining, incredible!!! impressive! Heads up on the food - if you stay in the lodge you can bring food and you will find every cooking supply you could want. BUT for Bovey Restaurants - you MUST reserve in advance. And for large parties - must order in advance. As we did not know what time the children would want to eat - or when activities would end -this was a challenge for us - so we kept restaurant visits to a minimum. Sunday Lunch in the beautiful Great Western Grill was tomato soup, Beef with Yorkshire pudding and Treacle tart! Perfect! The dining room was beautiful, the children felt like royalty, all staff were friendly and attentive, however the service was very slow. Lovely dinner at the Smith Brassiere, Fish and Chips followed with Eton Mess were favorites. If you do not have a car it is nearly impossible to get take-out from the nearby town - although we did manage it once! Other perfect memories of our time: Cream Tea, and playing chess on the castle veranda, finding Marion’s garden, swimming in the castle pool coated with shiny blue tiles, rolling down the front lawn, riding bikes and playing croquet. When it was time to leave for London -we all dragged our feet - Highly recommend this enchanting countryside retreat. Thank you Bovey Castle for an experience we will never forget!

Spent the weekend here with family and we had a great time. We were a party of 12 and the hotel coped well in the bar and relaxing lounge areas with catering for this number of people, the only big disappointment was dinner in the Brasserie on the Saturday evening where service was very very slow. Also on the Sunday afternoon when we wanted drinks on the terrace we were told we had to go in and order at the bar, not really what you expect from a 5 star hotel. But overall We loved the hotel and grounds and we would certainly stay here again.

We celebrated a special occasion at Bovey Castle, and what a weekend it was! I could wax lyrical about our experience for hours. Highlights included the spa, clay pigeon shooting with Rob, and rifle shooting with Izaac. We also loved simply unwinding in the various lounges, playing chess, and relaxing with a nice glass of wine - or two. The food was delicious, and the “Happy Anniversary” plate of strawberries and chocolates was such a thoughtful touch - thank you! Every member of staff we met was exceptionally helpful and welcoming, making us feel truly special. It was the most relaxing and wholesome weekend - we absolutely loved it. The only thing we would change is the location of the coach parking: one was directly outside our bedroom, and we were woken early as people gathered before boarding. It didn’t spoil our weekend—far from it—but it’s worth mentioning.