The Good Family Hotel Guide: The Sands Family Resort, Cornwall

Mood: An extravagantly styled south Cornish Victorian mansion, set in five acres, overlooking the Fowey river estuary and English Channel. An easy-going atmosphere, with the emphasis on families.

Mood: An extravagantly styled south Cornish Victorian mansion, set in five acres, overlooking the Fowey river estuary and English Channel. An easy-going atmosphere, with the emphasis on families.

Accommodation: A variety of family suites and rooms, some interconnecting. In The Court (a converted coach-house) there are child-safe balconies. Telephone child-listening is available.

Activities: Children up to eight years old can hang out in "Four Bears Den", supervised by qualified child-minders from 10am-5pm daily. For older children, there is table-tennis, table football, pool and computer games in the cellar (unsupervised). Also, indoor swimming-pool, volley-ball court and croquet pitch.

Refuelling: Supervised childrens' lunch and high tea in Four Bears Den (£5 per meal). Light meals and a selection of children's dishes in the Palm Court bar. The main restaurant is more formal and specialises in seafood.

In the area: Plenty of beaches, and activities - riding, surfing, sea-fishing, sailing, scuba-diving.

Sample price: Rooms start at £95 per night for two adults B&B, rising to £125 on the last weekend in March. Children sharing stay free but pay £3.50 for breakfast.

Address: Fowey Hall Hotel, Hanson Drive, Fowey, Cornwall PL23 1ET (tel: 01726 833866).