Travel review: Devon

It's a fine Spring afternoon in Devon and I am sitting on a terrace overlooking a pleasant garden with a glass of chilled white wine in my hand. I am right on the edge of Dartmoor with the sun shining and birds are twittering pleasantly in the background.

Children are playing on the lawn, the young bridesmaids at a wedding being held at the four star Moorland Garden Hotel at Yelverton where I am enjoying a relaxing weekend break.

It is still April but it is much warmer here than home in Shropshire and we are at the end of a busy day exploring Dartmoor and the Tamar Valley. The hotel is on the Western edge of Dartmoor National Park, a few miles from Plymouth and we drove down on the Friday evening to a very warm welcome.

Moorland Garden Hotel has been refurbished by owners Brian and Sonia Meaden, parents of Deborah 'Strictly-Come-Dancing-Dragon's-Den' fame, and has recently been awarded four stars and a Rosette by the AA. There are 44 bedrooms and we were allocated the Jasmine Suite on the ground floor overlooking the hotel gardens and Dartmoor itself. The room was large and nicely furnished with sofa, dressing table, chairs and an impressive four poster bed that proved extremely comfortable when time came to rest our weary heads.

Saturday was to be our discover Devon day and after a hearty sausage, bacon and eggs breakfast from the hot buffet we left the hotel for a 10 minute drive across the moor to Buckland Abbey, a fascinating former monastery that was once home to Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe.

Founded in 1278, Buckland Abbey was the last of the Cistercian monasteries to be built in medieval England and Wales and was lived in for for more than 250 years by the monks who farmed the vast estate.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries saw Buckland sold to Sir Roger Grenville, who began to modify the abbey into a house and home, and later it was sold again to privateer Sir Francis Drake.

There's plenty to see here as you walk in the footsteps of of monks, sailors and servants including a newly verified Rembrandt self portrait. We were in luck with our timing as another portrait had been unveiled just two days before at the abbey this one of Sir Francis Drake. This newly identified, earliest known portrait of Francis Drake is a 'warts and all' Tudor portrait showing the seafarer's ruddy complexion and his defining warts on the tip and bridge of his nose. The painting is on loan from a Private American collector and will be at Buckland for a year.

• Heather was a guest of the Moorland Garden Hotel where a Spring break costs from £99 per room per night (two sharing) including two course dinner, bed and Devonshire breakfast. www.moorlandgardenhotel.co.uk.

• Entry to Buckland Abbey costs £11 per adult and £5.50 per child, www.nationaltrust.org.uk/buckland-abbey

• Plymouth Gin Distillery tours cost from £7 per person, http://plymouthdistillery.com

• The Moorland Garden Hotel has recently been awarded four stars and a Rosette by the AA

You can see Drake's drum in the Treasures gallery, said to beat when England is in danger (thankfully not when we were there), a towering statue of him and don't miss the Great Barn, the Elizabethan kitchen, the original tiled floor in the great hall and the portrait outside the old chapel of Elizabeth Lady Seaton – she doesn't take her eyes off you!

Plymouth Gin was our next outing and the 40-minute tour gave us a run down on the fascinating history of Blackfriars Distillery which is the oldest working gin distillery in England and was where the Pilgrim Fathers reputedly spent their last night before setting sail.

After a mooch around Plymouth Barbican we headed back to Moorland Garden Hotel for a glass of wine on the terrace before dinner in the Mayflower Restaurant where the chef works with top South West producers to deliver an award-winning menu. For me that was pan seared scallops with black pudding and sausage cassoulet to start followed by and a tender sirloin steak, both delicious. My husband's ham hock and chicken terrine starter and salmon and shrimp main choices were excellent too. For dessert we selected a tasty Malibu Panna Cotta and a caramelised apple and pear crumble.

Sunday soon dawned at and it was time for home. We ventured across the moorland in the moorland mist, glimpsing Dartmoor ponies grazing on their native ground. It was a fine weekend in an excellent hotel.