The Devonian

The Devonian is a guest house on Broadway in Douglas, one of the tall white terraces standing back from the seafront. It is run in a frankly old-fashioned way, and that turns out to be the whole appeal.

The front is late-Victorian and unapologetic about it: four storeys of white render, bay windows stacked one above the next, moulded cornices and black iron balconettes at first floor. Through the door there is a long hall in soft yellow with a panelled dado, hung wall to wall with framed prints around a large oval mirror, a pair of ribboned carnival masks among them.

Breakfast under the chandelier

The breakfast room takes the ground-floor bay, its tables dressed in white cloths with patterned chairs and a chandelier hanging over the middle of them. Breakfast is properly cooked and clearly taken seriously: eggs done several ways, grilled meats and mushrooms, pancakes with berries, yoghurt and granola, pastries and fruit, with a cafetiere and a rack of teas on the side.

Bay windows and brass bedsteads

Rooms are decorated in soft pinks, creams and buttery yellows, with patterned papers, gilt-framed pictures and swagged pelmets above the glass. The best of them sit in the bays, three windows wide and looking into the trees along Broadway, with an armchair or a small sofa to go with the bed. Doubles, twins and a larger family room are all in the house. Each has a private bathroom with a quarter-circle shower cubicle or a bath, a flat-screen television, a hairdryer and a kettle. The upper floors are reached by stairs alone.

Broadway, and the walk to the sand

You are a very short walk from the seafront in Douglas, with Douglas Beach about the closest thing to the front door.

Who fills these bay windows

Couples who would rather have a cooked breakfast and a bay window than a keycard and a corridor, and families who need a room with more than two beds in it. Anyone hauling a heavy case should know about the stairs.