A FALMOUTH hotel has been awarded four silver stars and a breakfast award by AA Hotel and Hospitality Services.

Merchants Manor's restaurant, Rastella, has also retained its 3 AA Rosette rating, held since 2018.

The AA’s Hotel Silver Star Award recognises "highly recommended hotels offering a superior level of quality within their star rating, high standards of hotel keeping, in particular, hospitality, service and cleanliness and an AA Rosette award for the quality of their food".

AA inspector Robert Martin said: “Always a pleasure to visit Merchants Manor. Really great to have seen the changes over the past years here, the place has been transformed into one of the best offerings in Falmouth.”

This new award sees Merchants Manor’s previous Four Star rating upgraded and the hotel now classified as a Four AA Silver Star hotel.

The Breakfast Award recognises the very special breakfast offering at the hotel, with its emphasis on local produce. The award is given to those hotels who achieve very high scores for the quality and range of their breakfast and those who deliver excellent hospitality and service in this key area.

Owners Nick Rudlin and Sioned Parry-Rudlin opened Merchants Manor in 2012.

The hotel features a restaurant, 39 rooms, a spa, swimming pool and gym. In 2018 Merchants Manor added two luxury eco-friendly, self-catering residence apartments to their offering.

At the helm of Rastella is head chef Hylton Espey.

The restaurant is known for its wood fired oven ‘Bertha’ which sits at the centre of the kitchen, giving a distinct flavour to a menu that ranges from freshly baked sourdough and smoked fish for breakfast through to roast Cornish ducks and seafood at dinner.

Sioned said: “We are delighted with our new Silver Star rating and very happy to have the quality of our breakfast and passion for local produce acknowledged. The retainment of our 3 AA Rosette award for Rastella is also of huge importance to us. Food is a key part of what we offer at Merchants Manor and with our head chef Hylton Espey we are always striving for better.”