The Place
This is the sister hotel of The Bear at Cowbridge, one of a mini-chain (The Town & Country Collective) of hotels owned and managed by a local family, the Hitchcocks. Hitchcock the film director is definitely no relation and the Bates Motel, his famously nightmarish creation, is as different from The West House as you can get. Anyone would feel safe and sleep soundly here and it has the relaxed private house atmosphere we favour.
You approach by a nicely unceremonious wooden garden gate on to the front lawn and it’s set back from a quiet road on the edge of the village with other solidly built 1800s middle-class houses.
The front reception rooms either side of the entrance corridor are light and colourful with tasteful fabrics and a mix of old and new furniture, traditional yet contemporary. The corridor is brightened by two arresting contemporary paintings. Middle of the road interior design, yet anything but stuffy.
The smallest bedroom we saw is well priced at £99 (room only, breakfast extra) and is OK for space – we’ve seen smaller rooms for more. The bedrooms are all a little different but a common theme is calming grey fabrics and boldly patterned wallpapers – far from garish or jarring, however.
Competing with The West House’s other charms is its location on the generally unsung Glamorgan Heritage Coast. It’s a short walk to the beach, where you can pick up the coast path for a superb ten-mile walk west to Merthyr Mawr and its enormous sand dune complex, possibly the second largest in Europe.
The Hitchcocks’ mini chain has four hotels. Beside The Bear and The West House there’s New House perched on a hill above Cardiff (great views) and Coed y Mwstwr at Bridgend. Both are good places, but too large for our collection.
Note: The West House is currently closed, only opening for weddings and private events (31/10/23)