Hotel Tresanton

Tresanton began in the 1940s as a yachtsman's club: a cluster of old white houses stepping down to Tavern Beach at St Mawes, on Cornwall's Roseland peninsula. Olga Polizzi bought it in 1998 and furnished it herself, with Cornish art on the walls and a sea view from almost every bedroom. The hotel has 31 rooms and suites, a light restaurant with a mosaic floor that looks across the bay to St Anthony's Lighthouse, a bar that welcomes dogs, and Pinuccia, a classic Italian racing yacht built in 1939.

For a private occasion there are five spaces. The Mosaic Room seats 50 at round tables and takes 100 standing, with its own AV. The Beach Club is three terraces just above the waterline under blue and white striped umbrellas, and can be taken for a lunch of 50 or a drinks reception of 150. The Nook is a smaller private terrace for 30 at table, and the Dogs' Bar, with its open fire, holds 50 for drinks.

The house keeps things quiet by design. Music is low in the background unless the hotel is taken over, and exclusive hire runs from September through March. Take it whole and dinner is served in the restaurant on three long tables, and after sunset the Mosaic Room becomes the dancefloor.