The George Hotel

About The George Hotel

The George occupies a seventeenth-century townhouse squeezed between Yarmouth Castle and the pier, directly on the water. It was once the home of Sir Robert Holmes, Governor of the Island, who entertained Charles II here, and the building still has the panelling, staircases and uneven floors to prove its age. It is the most characterful of the Island's upmarket hotels and one of very few with the Solent immediately outside.

There are seventeen bedrooms, no two the same. Some look over the harbour and the ferry coming in from Lymington, some over the garden, and a handful have private terraces. Furnishings mix antique pieces with contemporary bathrooms, and the larger rooms work well for families. Dogs are accommodated in several rooms. Because the hotel is small, service is personal rather than corporate.

Food is a serious part of the offer. The conservatory restaurant is brasserie in style, with uninterrupted Solent views and a menu that leans heavily on seafood landed locally. In summer the beach club takes over: an Italian-inspired garden with olive trees, a driftwood-clad bar and a beach kitchen turning out wood-fired pizzas, all of it opening straight onto the shingle. It is one of the better places on the Island for a long lunch.

Yarmouth itself is a working harbour town with independent shops, a Tuesday market and the Lymington ferry, so the hotel is convenient if you are arriving from the mainland on foot. The Needles, Tennyson Down, Freshwater Bay and the Yar estuary walks are all within a short drive or cycle. Rates sit at the higher end for the Island, and the hotel is busiest between May and September.