Shore Hotel

The Shore stands on Shore Road at Gansey, where the coast road runs alongside the water on the way into Port St Mary. Seen from the bay it reads as a tall white landmark above the shingle, with green hills behind the village.

You turn in off the road onto parking at the front. The seaward side is given over to lawn, with a picnic table on the grass and a low wall between it and the shore. It is part stone, part white render, with its glazed end facing the water squarely.

Beach-stone hearths and the bar

The ground floor carries the character. Walls are clad in weathered grey boards hung with mirrors and driftwood wreaths, and the fireplaces are built from rounded beach stone with wood-burning stoves set into them. Brown leather sofas pull up to heavy plank tables. One room runs a long timber bar with bottles ranked behind it; another is laid for dinner in blue panelling, a candle on every table.

Suites under the beams

Dark structural beams cross the ceilings upstairs, and in the largest rooms a gable window takes up the whole end wall, so the sea is the first thing you see. The sea-facing suites open onto a terrace set with a table and chairs. Others add sofas and seating areas, and one bedroom has a stone chimney breast with logs stacked in it. The Old Boat House is separate: its own entrance, an open-plan kitchen and living space under the roof, and two bedrooms.

Brewery Beach and the road on

Brewery Beach is a short walk along the shore, and the road carries on from there into Port St Mary and its harbour. Chapel Bay, Port Erin and Fleshwick are a drive away on this southern corner of the island.

Come for the fire

Anyone who wants the sea in the window and a fire in the evening. It suits couples taking a suite, walkers working the southern coast, and a group who would rather have the cottage to themselves.