HOTEL of the week

CROWNE PLAZA PLYMOUTH

WHERE AND WHY Plymouth has been dubbed Britain’s Ocean City, and the 11-storey Crowne Plaza overlooking the coast is perfectly placed to explore it from. If you can, grab a front-facing room on a higher floor for a snapshot of the Devon city’s fascinating maritime heritage. You’ll spot the bustling Barbican area with its swanky harbour, busy fisheries and lively restaurants and bars. Spot the uninhabited Drake’s Island out in Plymouth Sound and Mount Edgcumbe beyond – the start of Cornwall. Or relax over a drink or a meal in Marco Pierre White’s top-floor steakhouse and bar while watching yachts, naval vessels, ferries and fishing boats criss-crossing the water below.

ON THE MENU A blissful start to an evening on the 11th floor is to grab a cocktail – with Plymouth gin, naturally – as the sun goes down and lights start to twinkle on the boats moored up in the Sound. The food – a mix of Marco’s childhood favourites and modern classics – matches the idyllic setting. My starter of seared sea scallops with black pudding and crisp pancetta was divine, as was my husband’s Scotch egg with mustard sauce. Steaks are the signature dish here: our 8oz grilled fillets – mine with tongue-tingling peppercorn sauce, my husband’s with snails and garlic butter – were beautifully tender. If you can squeeze in a pudding (and you really should), I’d recommend the delicious and creamy Blue Monday cheese made by Blur’s Alex James, paired with a slab of ‘drunken’ fruitcake that was unashamedly moist and boozy.

For kids there’s a fantastic threecourse menu for under a tenner.

WHILE YOU’RE THERE The Crowne Plaza overlooks

Smeaton’s Tower, Plymouth’s iconic red-and-white lighthouse that was once 14 miles out at sea but is now an attraction on the Hoe. Inside, staff will tell you fascinating tales of how lighthouse keepers coped with being cut-off from the mainland for three months at a time. Further along the Hoe are the Beatlebums – bronze plaques signalling where the Fab Four once posed for official photos. Take a harbour tour or catch a ferry to Mount Edgcumbe, Britain’s biggest country park, or to the redeveloped Royal William Yard. Or pop in and meet the sharks in the National Marine Aquarium, Britain’s biggest.

WAKE-UP CALL Doubles at the Crowne Plaza Plymouth from

£129, B&B.