Hotel Tresanton in Saint-Mawes, United Kingdom

Hotel Tresanton in Saint-Mawes, United Kingdom

"Fish, tin and copper": famous toast in Cornwall because, until recently, it was pilchard fishing and the extraction of tin and copper that people made a living in this region of the southern tip of England. Life was hard there. Given its location, Cornwall was of particular military importance. It was from there that the English gained victory over the invincible Armada. But when peace returned, this corner of England had fallen into oblivion. Before the railroad, it took an average of XNUMX hours to get from London. Apart from certain strategic places, such as the castle of Saint-Mawes and a few private estates built on mining fortunes, the country remained isolated and humble, retaining its own language and traditions.
At the end of the XNUMXth century, life took an even more distressing turn when the great banks of pilchards ceased to pass along the coasts. At the same time, thanks to the expansion of the empire, much larger and more accessible sources of tin and copper were discovered elsewhere. In other words, life there became almost unbearable. Suddenly, Cornwall remained the same, while the rest of England was transformed at record speed. Its picturesque fishing villages, idyllic little harbors, white sandy beaches and rolling landscapes are still intact. No industry in this sparsely populated region, a climate tempered by the Gulf Stream (it is the only place where, at such a latitude, tropical plants can survive): Cornwall had everything to become the British Riviera. This peninsula is now so popular that real estate is almost as expensive there as in London. The small thatched-roofed houses of the coastal villages change hands without ever appearing on the market.
OIga Polizzi knows the area very well. Her husband's family had a vacation home there for a long time, the Anchorage, in Saint-Mawes Bay. And it was a few steps away that the Tresanton was opened in the late XNUMXs by Jack Siley, her husband's godfather. In its heyday it was one of the fanciest hotels in Cornwall. But with the democratization of international travel in the XNUMXs, it experienced a certain decline. Every time, says Olga Polizzi, that my husband and I would go to Anchorage, passing the Tresanton, he would say to me: “You should buy it and go back up it. .. ”I played with this idea for years.
That Olga was tempted is explained. Daughter of Lord Forte, she knew better than anyone what a hotel is. And she had spent most of her professional life alongside her brother, Sir Rocco Forte, responsible for such gems as Eden in Rome, George V in Paris and the Waldorf in London. In 1995, the Granada group took control of their business. This was the opportunity for her to create her own hotel. The Tresanton, on the verge of bankruptcy, offered potential; it had time, experience and, after the acquisition by Granada, financial means. The result ? A new conception of English seaside holidays. Chef Paul Wadgen learned to cook in several luxury restaurants in London. The hotel shines because a London magazine called it a "robust absence of frills". No little paper doilies, no mini bars, no flower prints in sight. Everything is simple and neat, like in a boat. Quickly considered the most elegant little hotel outside London, the Tresanton has remained a family affair. And, when the hotel lacks arms, the whole family rolls up their sleeves: Olga herself, her two daughters, Alex and Charlie, and even her husband, the writer and biographer William Shawcross, who has already been seen wearing customers' luggage to their room.

Hotel Tresanton
Lower Castle Road, Saint Mawes, TR2 5DR, Great Britain
Telephone: +44 1326 270 055

Website : http://tresanton.com/