Promenade House

Promenade House stands on Summerhill, at the far end of Douglas Bay where the seafront road begins to climb. A good number of its rooms look straight out over the water.

The building is one of the tall pale-blue Victorian fronts on that stretch, three storeys of stacked bay windows picked out in white stucco, with cordylines growing in the beds at the foot of the steps.

Inside the bay windows

The rooms are traditionally furnished and roomy, with rose-pink carpet, polished wardrobes and chests of drawers, and crisp white bedding. Most have an armchair or two turned towards the window, a desk with a lamp and a flat-screen television, and an iron and board tucked out of sight. One apartment has a small white kitchen with a tiled floor and a round bistro table with two bentwood chairs. Under the roof is a room with sloping ceilings where leather sofas and a glass table make a proper sitting area beside the bed.

Rooms facing the water

Beds run from a large double to a pair of singles in the twin. In the sea-view rooms the windows frame the whole sweep of the bay, the railings and beach below, and the headland at the far end. Bathrooms are private and white-tiled, some with a bath and a separate walk-in shower, others with a heated rail for the towels.

The promenade below

The beach lies across the road, and the sign for the electric railway sits at the bottom of the hill. The shops, restaurants and ferry terminal of Douglas follow the same seafront round the bay.

Who books it

Couples after a room with a view, and anyone staying a while who would rather have a kettle, a desk and space to spread out than a standard hotel bedroom.