The IdleRocks

The 1913 hotel on St Mawes' harbour wall — its terrace extended along the whole waterfront in the 1960s — was bought in 2010 by David and Karen Richards, closed for a complete rebuilding at the end of 2012, and reopened on its centenary in July 2013. He is the David Richards who founded the motorsport firm Prodrive and chaired Aston Martin; she designed every interior herself, here and at the smaller, more casual St Mawes Hotel two hundred yards away, which the couple added in 2014 — two houses in one village, individually run, with no brand between them. Nineteen bedrooms, Relais & Châteaux membership, a Michelin Key retained in 2025, and the Reef Knot restaurant under chef Stuart Shaw since March 2024.