Horn of Plenty Easter Break

Horn of Plenty Easter Break 2026

We have been to the Horn of Plenty, a luxury country house hotel in the heart of Devon on many occasions, the last time being to celebrate New Year’s Eve in December 2025 to see in the new year of 2026.

We decided to go back again in April 2026 for a 2 night dinner bed and breakfast easter break, which included an archery lesson on the lawn. Please read on to see how we did.

So on Good Friday 3rd April 2026 we left our house at about 4.15 p.m and travelled to the hotel arriving at about 4.30 pm. We checked in and were booked to stay in room 9, but we had a nice surprise as we had been given an upgrade and were now in room 11.

It was a lovely light airy and large room with bi fold doors opening on to a private terrace which overlooked the walled garden. We were very pleased and it was a nice start to our easter break.

As I said the room was large and airy and appeared very nice but on closer inspection noticed that it was looking tired in places. The handles on the sink unit in the large bathroom were tarnished, and around the base of the shower was worn.

Not really what you would expect from a luxury hotel. Also the room was very warm (I don’t like heat), we did open the side window but it was very small so not much air got through.  We did open the bifold doors, but obviously not during the night.  Now I know this might be strange criticism but the bed was a super king which we actually thought was too large, but this is only my opinion.  Also the mattress was very soft, again in my opinion, as other guests might like it.

Although the weather wasn’t very good being overcast and misty. we unpacked and as I knew we would have a couple of hours to kill before dinner I  packed the game of uckers and we had a couple of games with Steve winning both.

We then got changed and had a pre dinner drink and canapes down in the lounge.

Horn of Plenty Easter Break.

We were then taken to our table in the restaurant for the 3 course meal.

It kicked off with a very tasty sharing brioche bread with miso butter and balsamic butter.

I could sit and eat lovely bread and butter all the time, and it was on the table for us to nibble on throughout the duration of the meal. But on this occasion perhaps I shouldn’t have tried to eat all of it as it did fill us up.

For Starters

Steve had the salmon, compressed kiwi, coriander pesto, black pepper labneh and raita gazpacho which he enjoyed.

I had whipped goats cheese, beetroot ketchup, pickles and candied walnut and goats cheese, which is always a favourite of mine.

Mains

We both had a 10oz ribeye steak, Roscoff onion (which was lovely) peppercorn sauce, fries and watercress. Very tasty but not really fine dining.

Dessert

Steve chose the sticky toffee pudding, brandy snap, clotted cream ganache and brown sugar ice cream.

I had rhubarb, rhubarb sorbet, rhubarb jelly, pickled rhubarb (I love rhubarb, but never cook it at home as Steve cannot eat it).

Then we had coffee and petit fours in the lounge.

So to bed.

Saturday 4th April

We enjoyed a love full Devon breakfast.

As we couldn’t do much as we had the archery lesson at 12.30, we stayed in the hotel and sat in the lounge and back up to our room. The weather was not very good and  strong winds were forecast, so be aware of arrows flying around!!!

Well we went down to check just before 12.30  to be told it had been cancelled due to the weather. We were quite annoyed not only that the weather had forced the archery to be cancelled, but no-one had told us even though we were in the vicinity of the hotel. Had we been told earlier we could have planned our day. The receptionist apologised but this was an unprofessional oversight and not very good. It wouldn’t have taken much to track us down in the hotel, or on our mobile which she had. We were very disappointed as we were looking forward to having an archery lesson which would have been something different.

We decided  then to drive the short distance to Tavistock but it was extremely busy and we couldn’t find a parking space in any of the car parks. So we decided then to go to Yelverton which is not very far away and had a pint of Guinness and a G & T in the Rock Inn. We actually go out to Yelverton and Burrator Reservoir quite often and have visited The Rock Inn for a drink and food on many occasions. Even that was extremely busy and were lucky to find a table.

We then went back to the hotel and had a cup of coffee in our room.

We then spruced ourselves up and changed and went down to the lounge for a pre dinner drink and canapes before we were shown to our table for the 4 course tasting menu.

This was a set menu with no choices and the tables were all laid out with cutlery for the different courses etc.

It all started off with the canapes and then the lovely brioche sharing bread with the 2 different butters which again was left on the table throughout the duration of the meal.

First course was a Malt Loaf with brie and cauliflower which was very nice.

Second course was Scallop with satay, fermented cucumber and ancho chilli, which Steve said was very spicy. Now I had told the hotel that I have a fish and shellfish allergy so I was served a minced up leg of chicken, with cucumber and a curry sauce which was very nice.

Here I digress a little, as I said the tables were all laid out with cutlery etc for the meal which included a fish knife, naturally, which included one on our table, even though they knew I would not need one. However you would have thought that this would have been changed for me to eat the chicken alternative, but it was not which I found to be a little lack of attention to detail. Only a small issue, but in a 3AA rosette fine dining restaurant then this should have been addressed so not very professional.

Third course Venison, served with beetroot. ,maitake mushroom and vanilla.

Fourth Course was a chocolate mousse with lime miso and cereal milk and some sort of biscuit on the top. It was very rich and a bit too sweet for me as I am not a sweet tooth, but Steve liked it and finished off mine.

Finished off with coffee and petit fours in the lounge.

Horn of Plenty Easter Break

Sunday 5th April 2026

It was down to enjoy another full Devon breakfast before we packed up and headed home .

Just a photo below of the restaurant area view out of the windows.

Did we enjoy our stay? Yes, although disappointed with the archery being cancelled and how it was handled, by not letting us know, even though we were in the Hotel, which was unacceptable. Also when we checked out there was an entry for afternoon tea on the day we arrived that we did not have, so the receptionist had to take it off our bill.

Note

Not that I watch Four in a Bed very often but I did see that The Horn of Plenty was taking part which was shown on Tuesday March 17th on Channel 4. Unfortunately it came 4th out of 4 (mainly due to price, well it is expensive, particularly compared to the other establishments that were taking part). There were a couple of other minor issues that they were marked down on. In our view we thought it was a mistake for the hotel to have taken part as it is not a bed and breakfast (which is what the programme is based on) as most people would stay on dinner, bed and breakfast basis to enjoy the fine food served in their 3AA rosette restaurant.

Horn of Plenty Easter Break